


A New Perspective

by ddh1973



Series: Francesca Grace [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:45:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 67,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4048459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddh1973/pseuds/ddh1973
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily Ward, Grant Ward's aunt arrives at the Playground six months after the events in 2x10, wanting to find her nephew.  After one conversation with her and finding out a long hidden Ward family secret, Skye seeks her help with her growing powers.  Her life will never be the same as she starts to make her own life beyond Shield.  Eventually Skyeward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ward Family Curse

**Author's Note:**

> This is AU after What We Become and while I might incorporate some things that happened in that episodes 11 to the finale in this story, the events of the season finale will not happen in this story. Ward and Kara will not be romantically involved and more like the best friends that they should have been. The first nineteen chapters of this story are on Fanfiction.net under the same username that I have here but I will be fixing mistakes that I missed the first time around.
> 
> I had a reviewer on fanfiction.net accuse Lily of being a Mary Sue and if she is, let me know because that is my biggest pet peeve. When I picture her in my head, she is a wealthy and powerful woman that doesn't abide hypocrites and idiots and has no hesitation to call them on it.

Six months had passed since the events of San Juan and it was a warm day in the beginning of May that brought Lily Ward to the Shield base known as The Playground. She ran her fingers anxiously through her dark hair as she waited for Phil Coulson, the director of Shield to come down from his office and talk to her. She had been brought to their base with a bag over her head to prevent her from knowing where The Playground was located. What they didn’t know was that she already knew where it was located because of her own ties to Nick Fury and the old Shield before that mess with Hydra had started. A mess her nephew had found himself in the middle of.

“Miss Ward, if you came to here to keep us from catching your nephew and putting him back into a prison cell, you are wasting your time,” Melinda May said as she walked over to where Lily was standing.

“Agent May, I think you remember exactly what I am and what I am capable of. I am dying to kick your ass for what you did to my nephew. The only reason I haven’t blasted you into the wall is because unlike you, I want to do this the nice way instead of fists first. You really won’t like me if I have to use my powers to get you to back the fuck off,” Lily said, glaring at May, who wisely backed off, knowing exactly what Lily Ward was and what she could do to her.

“My mother is dying and her last request is to see her entire family. My brother, his wife and Christian have been brought out of hiding and are already at our home in the Hamptons. Thomas and Louise, Grant’s other siblings are already there.”

“Grant didn’t kill his family?”

Lily took in the young woman that had asked the question and could feel the uncontrolled power radiating from her. She also sensed a deep well of confused feelings towards Grant, there was hatred at the things he had done but also a longing that she refused to let come to surface. A longing for him to have been the man she had thought he was.  
She quickly realized that this was Skye, the woman her nephew thought he was in love with. She had her doubts because given the lies that had been told by him, she didn’t know the real Grant and he didn’t know that woman that his lies had turned her into. Now with her new found powers and his own issues, neither one of them were ready for any kind of relationship of a romantic nature.

“No, he didn’t. It was a ruse to get Grant an in with Whitehall. I used my powers to help him but only after he got a confession out of Christian about his part in what happened to Thomas. It was what Grant needed to help him start to deal with his past.”

“So you are a gifted?”

Lily could sense the young woman had questions and needed them from someone who could understand what she was going through. She gently touched Skye on her arm, ignoring Agent May taking a step forward as if to stop her.

“If you need any advice for what is going on with you, I will try to help you. I don’t have your exact power but I know what it is like to learn to control a power that you didn’t ask for but is apart of who you are from birth.”

“How did you know?”

“One of my gifts is to sense power in others, along with others that come with being a witch.”

A look of disbelief came over Skye’s face until she saw the look of fear in May’s eyes. Her SO knew what Lily was and that was why she hadn’t responded to Lily’s confession of wanting to kick the older woman’s ass. Lily Ward was the one person that actually scared Melinda May.

“How did you become one?”  
Skye and Lily sat down at a table in the common room, each of them ignoring the audience that was gathering around them.

“My ‘gift’ was passed down through the female line of my family. It started with a curse that was cast back in 1690 when one of my ancestors set himself up as judge, jury and executioner for ‘witches’ in his village killed the wrong two women. Their sister was actually a witch and cast a curse on his family. His daughter became a witch and her brother’s unborn daughter became one at her birth. There can be only one female born to each generation of the Ward family and at least one male. One of his children will be a daughter to carry on the family curse. Given that Christian can’t conceive a child because I hit him in the groin with a bat when he was sixteen after I caught him tormenting Grant and Tommy. Tommy is not a biological Ward and Louise was born with the same power I have, so the conception of the next generation witch falls to Grant. Given his attitude about becoming a parent, I think it will die out with Louise.”

“Magic is not scientifically possible,” Simmons stated as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Lily held out her right hand, palm facing upwards and a ball of bright white energy formed in it. She took her left hand and moved it to that hand before it disappeared. The gasps of shock from everybody but May and Coulson, who was watching from the doorway, carried around the room.

“I have lived with this from the time I was sixteen years old Dr. Simmons. Given every extraordinary thing you have seen as a Shield agent, I find it confusing that you are so sure that magic doesn’t exist. You sound like Grant; he refused to believe that the curse is real until he saw it in action six months ago.”

“If you have talked to him, why are you here looking for him?”

“He disappeared after San Juan and he is off of the grid. I have investigators searching his safe houses but nothing has turned up.”

“He is probably somewhere recovering from when I shot him,” Skye said quietly.

Lily used her magic to sense Skye’s thoughts and gasped in shock at the other woman shooting Grant in the back four times. She could feel the anger and hatred Skye had felt for him that day but also a need to keep his stubborn ass from following her down into the tunnels to certain death.

A vision came into Lily’s mind and she then saw a woman that looked like Agent May but with scars on her face help him out of the building. She also saw another man wearing a suit come across them and help the woman with Grant.

“Skye, if you hadn’t of done that, he would have followed you into those tunnels and would have died just like your friend did. I know my nephew and he is one of the most stubborn people God put on this planet especially when it comes to protecting someone he cares about. It has led him into doing some of the stupidest shit ever; like dropping a pod out of an airplane, thinking it would make things better instead of ten times worse.”

“You got that right,” a young man with curly blond hair muttered.

“Mr. Fitz, you have every right to be angry with Grant and I don’t blame you for cutting the oxygen off to his cell. It might have been an extreme way of doing it but he needed to know exactly what his actions caused to happen to you in a way that you couldn’t tell him yourself,” Lily gently stated. “He forgave you the moment you did it because he felt like he deserved it.”

“Did you sense all of this with your magic?”  
Lily turned to face the tall blond haired woman that asked the question.

“That and I had a long conversation with him while we were planning out how to fake his parents’ death, Agent Morse. My nephew knows better than to lie to me because I can sense it and also have some personal experience with being lied to by someone I loved. He knows I will zap him in the ass for it, just like I did to the person who betrayed me.”

“I can see if he still has the cell phone he called me from,” Skye said before cringing at the glare May gave her. She hadn’t told Coulson or May about him calling her right after Bakshi was captured.

“Let me have the phone and I will call him, he might not want to talk to you, Skye.”

“How are you going to let him know that it is you?”

“We have a question that only the two of us and his other siblings know the answer to and when I answer it, he will know it is me. Of course we will be changing the question the next time I see him.”

Skye went and got Bakshi’s phone and found the unknown number that Grant called her from. She dialed it and handed the phone to Lily, who put the phone on speaker phone.

“I don’t want to talk to you, Skye,” Grant harshly bit out over the phone.

“This isn’t Skye.”

“Aunt Lily?”

“Yes, now ask the question.”

“What kind of bat did you hit Christian in the balls with?”

“I hit that idiot in the balls with a Louisville Slugger.” Lily said, ignoring the snorts of laughter coming from the people with her. “Now call me on my cell so we can talk in private, it is important.”

Lily hung up the phone and waited for a few seconds to the sound of her cellphone ringing. She quickly answered it, heading towards the exit. She walked out and took the elevator up to the surface, not noticing that Skye was right behind her and ignoring the shouts of May and Coulson ordering her to come back.

As they stood outside of where the base was, Lily answered her phone and started to talk to Grant.

“Your grandmother is dying. If you aren’t at our home in the Hamptons by the time I get there, I will kick your ass when you do show up, Grant Douglas.”

She hung up the phone and turned to face Skye, who was waiting quietly for Lily to finishing talking.

“Let me go with you. I have so many questions about how to control my powers and if I haven’t found them here in the six months since I got them, I never will.”

“If I allow this, I have some rules. You are to stay away from Grant; at least until he is finished dealing with his dying grandmother and that rabid bitch he calls a mother. After my mother passes and has been laid to rest, we will go to my farm in Virginia where I will teach you to control your powers and then when you feel comfortable with them, you can either stay or go back to Shield, the choice is yours. You are a grown woman and not a child; I won’t treat you like one or a soldier that has to follow orders.”

“Thank you. Let me go and get my stuff.”

Skye went back into the base and came back fifteen minutes later, tears in her eyes.

“Coulson and May had objections to you leaving,” Lily stated.

“Yes, they told me that I was making a mistake and that you could be just as manipulative and twisted as your nephew.”

“They have a point but then again, my nephew was manipulated by three of the most selfish people ever born. He says that he wasn’t brainwashed but he was so messed up by his own mother, brother and that asshole John Garrett, he wouldn’t know it if he was brainwashed.”

Skye followed Lily into the limo that was waiting for them and glanced up to see May and Coulson watching from the window before getting into the car with Lily.


	2. Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There has been some changes made to this chapter than the original one on fanfiction.net and an added scene at the end between Ward and his sister that is funny and emotional. In this story, the sister is the oldest sibling and as the story goes on, the effects of her mother's abuse and father's neglect will come through as well as her love for her siblings, especially Grant.

Skye was in awe as she stepped out of the limo that had brought her and Lily from the airport and took in the two story thirty five hundred square foot home. It was only on a half-acre of land but sat on the shore of Sag Harbor and had grey siding and two huge decks on both levels of the house.

She had heard that Grant had come from money but this was beyond her expectations. He should have had an idyllic life but it really is true when they say that 'money can't buy happiness'.

Lily led her into the house and the first thing she heard was a woman drunkenly berating someone somewhere in the house. She quickly followed Lily into the living room to the sight of a short woman in her sixties with grey hair standing in Grant's face. She could see him clenching his fists, fighting not to punch his own mother.

"You always have been a worthless piece of shit that wasn't fit to be a member of this family."

"Travis, I suggest you deal with your wife before I show her who belongs here and who doesn't," Lily's voice carried an edge of danger.

The older man, still handsome in his sixties and as tall as his older two sons, standing beside his wife quickly pulled her out of the room while Senator Ward and the other two people in the room, a petite and slender dark haired woman in her early forties and a young man that was as tall as his brothers and had dark hair but with blue eyes, all went over to Ward. The woman touched him cautiously on the arm.

"Grant, ignore her. She hates Gramzy and is pouting about the fact that she has to come here. You belong here, you always have."

"What is she doing here?"

Lily turned to face her furious nephew as Grant glared at Skye, who stood quietly by the door.

"I am assisting her on an important matter so she will be staying with me for the time being."

Grant, in a rare show of emotion, stormed out of the room and up the stairs, slamming the door to the bedroom he had used as a child. The other three Ward siblings faced their aunt and Skye, all of them curious about whom this young woman was that had their brother so pissed off, at least until Lily told them her name.

"This is Agent Skye of Shield. She will be staying with me while I help her out with an issue she is dealing with. I know some of you know about her ties to Grant and might have a reason to make things difficult for her. Just so you know that if you do, you will deal with me because that is not how members of this family act. Now I am going to have a conversation with your brother so it would be greatly appreciated if one of you shows her to the bedroom closest to the kitchen."

Thomas stepped forward and smiled gently at Skye before motioning for her to follow him while Lily went upstairs. The other two followed them as they walked down a hallway and into an open door that was close to the kitchen, the door across from it was one of the three bathrooms that were in the house.

The bedroom had yellow walls and a window seat but most of the floor was taken up by a king sized four poster bed. The door to the closest was at the foot of the bed and there was also a small cherry stained dresser and matching chest of drawers.

"Thank you for showing me to my room."

"You're welcome," Thomas said. "Now do you want to explain to me why you shot my brother when his back was turned?"

Skye could see the looks of anger in the Ward siblings' eyes as they waited for her answer. She knew that there was no way out of this and that she had put herself in a situation where everybody was on Ward's side over hers.

"I did it to stop him from following me into the tunnels under the mansion. I had to stop a woman from starting something that would have been bad for a lot of people and I knew that Grant would have died in his effort to protect me. I couldn't take him in a fight and slowing him down was the best option."

"Well he is still recovering from where you tried to slow him down," Louise snapped back at her before storming out of the room.

"It seems I made a mistake coming here," Skye said, getting ready to leave the room and the house.

"Skye, our grandmother, with a lot of help from Louise and Lily took care of Grant and Tommy when they were little more than our mother did. They never forgave our parents or me for him being sent to military school and juvie. Of course, it didn't help that he was kidnapped at fifteen years old from the juvenile facility and we hadn't seen or heard from him until recently," Senator Ward said.

Skye stood there in shock as she took in what Christian had just told her. She had known about Garrett influencing Grant from the time he became his SO but what if the man had been the one who had kidnapped him as a teenager. What if the man's influence on Grant had ran deeper than everybody had originally thought.

 

Lily watched from the foot of the king sized bed as Grant unpacked his bag into the dresser and waited for him to speak. She was used to him freezing people out when he was a child and his mother had tormented him. It was his safe mode.

"I can sit here all day long, Grant Douglas, so keep on pouting, I can wait you out," she stated, her arms folded across her chest.

"She shot me, Aunt Lily!"

Lily stood up and got into his face before replying just as hotly as he did.

"She saved your damn life, Grant!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Antoine Triplett is dead after he did exactly what she stopped you from doing when she shot you. He followed her into those tunnels and the obelisk turned him into stone and killed him. She is now a gifted and needs help controlling her powers. She has asked me to help her."

"Shield and Coulson aren't going to let her go that easily because they will want to keep her away from Hydra. She is a target now."

"You know this and I know this but do you honestly seeing Hydra attacking her while she is with me, Grant. You know what Louise and I are and what your duty is to making sure that the next generation happens."

"I will be a crappy father, Aunt Lily."

"No you won't but I can't make you believe that," she gently stated. "I have placed Skye in the bedroom closest to the kitchen. I will start on lunch for everybody while you go and see your grandmother. She is waiting for you."

Lily saw the tears forming in her nephew's eyes and walked over to hug him the way she had when he was a small child.

"She's really dying?"

"Yes. It could be any moment now and do you really want to spend what time she has left arguing about things that in the end aren't very important."

Lily stepped away from Grant and left the room, heading down the stairs and into the hall that leads to the kitchen. She passed Skye's bedroom just in time to hear Christian tell her about Grant being kidnapped at fifteen. The look on the young woman's face made a vision come to mind that had Lily gasping for breath. If it came true, what happened in the next few months could bring a power into their lives that would make her family at the heart of the battle between Shield and Hydra, both wanting to control it for their own reasons.

"Aunt Lily, are you okay?"

She came back to reality and smiled softly at Tommy, who was at her side, his sapphire eyes filled with concern.

"I'm fine. I am going to fix lunch for everybody while Grant visits your grandmother. Give them some time together. Why don't you and Christian show Skye the view from the decks and the shore?"

Tommy watched as his aunt went down the hall to the kitchen before turning to face his oldest brother, who was also concerned about his aunt.  
The two men led Skye outside and showed her the decks before walking across the small yard, past the guest house and down the steps that led to the beach and the view of bright blue water of Sag Harbor Bay.

 

Grant stepped into the bedroom at the end of the hall and stopped short at the sight of his grandmother looking so frail. Her hair was now completely white and her alabaster skin was heavily wrinkled.

"Gramzy," he said softly

Her lovely green eyes opened and Francesca Ward smiled lovingly at the grandson she hadn't seen since he was fourteen years old.

"Grant," she said, holding her hand for him to take it, tears spilling down her cheeks.

In that moment the tough specialist that could kill people with his bare hands became a little boy again, sobbing in his grandmother's arms as she held him. It led to him telling her everything that had happened to him since he had disappeared from juvie, including his own actions against people he cared about. By the time he had calmed down, Grant was emotionally drained that he fell asleep beside his grandmother, who threw a blanket over him and let him get some much needed rest.

"It might be difficult and heartbreaking for you right now my sweet boy but things will turn out better for you and I don't need your aunt and sister's powers to know that."

Francesca resumed reading her book but continued to glance over at her grandson to make sure he was okay. She knew that he would be one of the ones most affected by her death but hoped that her son would step and finally be the father he should have been to his children.

 

Later that night, Skye sat on Lily's right side at one end of the table with Tommy across from her while Louise sat beside her and Christian and his wife Anna on Tommy's other side. Travis, Grant's father sat on the other end of the table while his wife, Millicent sat beside him with an empty chair between her and Anna and two between Louise and her father. Grant's absence was felt as it seemed he was still with his grandmother.

"Louise, was he still sleeping when you went to check on your grandmother?"

"Yes. According to Gram, he told her everything and was so exhausted afterward, he fell asleep. She has said that he is to be left alone and to save him something to eat."

"I don't know why that worthless piece of shit is even here. I should have drowned him at birth," Milly snapped.

"Shut up!"

The sight of Tommy's face turning red as he yelled at his mother shocked his family. Despite the fact all of them knew he hated her as much as the rest of them did, he had never talked to his mother that way before.

"In fact, do all of us a favor and leave. It's not like you give a damn that Gram is dying."

After Thomas had finished speaking, Skye sat her fork down and stood up, turning to leave the dining room but not before looking at Grant's mother with a look of disdain.

"No wonder he never had a good thing to say about his mother. I don't know what is worse, the fact that my mother died when I was baby and growing up without one or having a hateful bitch like you for a mother. The only one at this table he talked about with any affection was Thomas and even then he regretted the way he allowed Christian to manipulate him into hurting him."

She was so wrapped up in telling off Millicent, Skye didn't notice the room starting to tremble and that every member of the family had to grab their dinner plates to keep them from sliding off of the table and hitting the floor.

Grant, who was standing out of the sight, watched and knew deep down that this was the power that Skye's father had told him would come about. He exchanged a look with his Aunt and they both knew that Hydra could never find out about her powers or Skye would suffer for it.

He followed her as she left the dining room to make sure she was okay but wasn't planning on getting anywhere close to her. Despite Lily telling him that Skye had shot him to save his life, Grant knew she hated him and that she had fallen off the pedestal he had put her up on. He loved her but knew that he had to let her go or he really would turn into a stalker that would do something even more stupid than he already had in trying to make her love him again, if she ever had.

Sometimes telling yourself something doesn't make a person listen to the voice of reason screaming for them not to do it.

 

Skye walked into the kitchen and out the back door, going down across the back yard, taking in the lights on the water.

"You didn't need to do that because I know you hate me," Grant said quietly as he walked across the yard to where she was standing.

"You heard that?"

"I woke up five minutes ago and Gramzy was sleeping so I came downstairs in time to hear my mother's usual bullshit."

"Was she always like that when you were a kid?"

"Yes. The only thing she loves in this world is my family's money, her alcohol and Tommy; although now that Aunt Lily is in control of the first one, she doesn't spend as much of that as she used to."

"My father is completely batshit crazy but I have come to realize that my mother's murder and losing me did that to him. I could see in his eyes that he loves me. I don't know how you lived with parents like them."

"I had Gramzy, Aunt Lily and Louise but my mother made sure they stayed away as much as she could get away with. She especially took pleasure in sending Lou away when she was thirteen. It was right before she came into her powers and to keep her from protecting us the way she always had."

Skye touched him gently on the shoulder and could feel the feelings she had pushed down with anger and hatred coming back to the surface. They kept getting closer together but before their lips could meet in a kiss, he turned and walked away from her.

"I can't do this. You made your point in San Juan and the next time you might actually kill me."

He walked over to the guest house and locked the door behind him. The sounds of him hitting a punching bag carried out to her.

"That was painful to witness," Louise said from where she was standing on the deck, a smirk on the tiny woman's face that Skye had seen on Grant's. "I thought you should know that my mother had decided that you will make the perfect wife for Tommy. Of course, you missed the fallout of him telling her that Grant is in love with you and he wouldn't do that to his brother.  
The best part was when he told her that he is gay and in love with one of the farmhands that works for Lily at her farm in Virginia."

The punching coming from the guest house stopped and the door opened to Grant stepping out, staring at his older sister in shock. The sight of which caused Skye to bust out laughing before walking back into the house to leave the siblings alone to talk.

As soon as the back door closed, Louise walked down to the guest house and waited for Grant to speak.

"Tommy's gay?"

"Yes," his sister said with a fierce tone to her voice. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. Although given your response, somebody in our family had one. Let me guess; Christian."

"Yes. Lily laid down the law and told him off."

"What was father's reaction?"

"He was actually the most accepting of it than all of us. Until tonight, mother didn't know and she really pissed him off with trying to get him to make a move on Skye, even after she found out that you were in love with her. When she told him that you didn't deserve love, Tommy went off on her and that is when he came out to her. She is now upstairs crying and packing to leave after Lily told her to."

"Why did Gramps make her his heir instead of father?"

"He changed his will right after you disappeared and called him a damn gutless wonder. He said he was going to leave control of the family fortune to his child that actually had some balls."

"Let me guess, Aunt Lily cut off mother's endless supply to the family money as soon as she took over?"

Louise grinned at her younger brother before responding.

"Yes, she did. It pissed mother off."

The siblings laughed before Louise hugged Grant as tears filled her dark eyes.

"I have missed you, my shadow."

Grant blushed at his sister's nickname for him.

"I missed you, too."

 

Skye watched them from her bedroom window and realized that being here with family members that actually had his back would be the best thing for her former SO. Now if only his mother wasn't still a presence because she could see her hateful words to him had hurt more than he had let on.


	3. The Dress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time a certain someone posts a new chapter of their psycho Ward fic, an update of this story will go up. The sight of that story and others it like on the Skyeward tag make me sick. All they are doing is making themselves look stupid.

The next morning, Skye woke up and it took her a moment to realize that she wasn’t in her bunk at The Playground but in the Hamptons. She looked at her phone and saw that it was five thirty in the morning, just about the time that Ward did his workout every morning. She found herself wondering if he still kept it up even now that he wasn’t a prisoner anymore.  
She got out of the bed and over to the window and there he was, getting ready to start his usual morning workout. He was only wearing a pair of sweat shorts and every muscle was on display.

She was so wrapped up in watching him start with hand standing pushups that she didn’t notice a woman a few inches taller than her with short blond hair and an average frame walk over to stand beside her.

“Okay, it has to be said, my brother-in-law is a fine piece of eye candy. I know he has done some shitty things but if he was in love with me, I would have already climbed him like a tree. But then again, I am not a cheating jackass like my husband is.”

Skye turned to face the other woman in shock before turning back to the window just in time for Grant to go into regular pushups.

“I apologize for scaring you. I’m Christian’s wife, Anna. I arrived late last night and came back here with Christian while my father-in-law made sure the demon got a flight back to Boston.

“I know that Grant’s mother is a bitch but why do you call her ‘the demon’?”

“Millicent Ward is the most selfish and hateful person ever put on the planet. She called me poor white trash, as if she has any room to talk, on mine and Christian’s wedding day and wasn’t fit to marry her son. The sad part is that my husband continues to hope for a kind word from that harpy while Tommy is the only one she shows affection for and he can’t stand her.”

“Anna, do you know anything about Grant being kidnapped when he was fifteen?”

“All I know is what Christian has told me over the years. His grandmother had been given custody and Lily was in the building to pick Grant up when all hell broke loose and he was taken out of there by an unknown man,” she quietly answered Skye’s question.

“So his parents weren’t filing charges and Christian wasn’t having him charged as an adult?”

“They were but after Gram got through with telling them off, they changed their minds and they signed over custody to her. My mother-in-law wouldn’t let her have Tommy and threatened to have a DNA test done to prove he wasn’t my father-in-law’s biological child to get her and Lily to back off. Then again, Tommy was her favorite and he wasn’t in danger the way Grant was.”

“Has anybody told him this? Grant has the right to know just how badly that son of a bitch lied to him.”

“I suspect that Lily will talk to him about it. I think they want to focus on spending their last moments with Francesca and making them peaceful for her. Hopefully now that my mother-in-law has been sent back to Massachusetts, things will calm down.”

“That’s good because given the looks her children were giving her and the horrible things she was saying to Grant, there would have been bloodshed,” Skye commented before shame came into her dark eyes and she started to quietly speak. “I have been so angry with him over his lies and said and done things just to be vindictive. What kind of person tells someone who tried commit suicide to that he should have run faster?”

“One who was really hurt by his lies and needed that anger to keep from falling apart,” Anna said gently. “Although shooting him was taking things a bit too far and I don’t think my sister-in-law is very happy with you.”

Skye didn’t say a word before going over to the dresser to find something to wear. Most of her wardrobe consisted of dark shirts and jeans and didn’t feel appropriate for the company she was in. She walked over to the closest and pulled out something that she had brought with her on an impulse but didn’t know how it would come across.  
It was a dress that had been bought in one of the rare jealous moments she had allowed herself to feel over Ward choosing to sleep with May. She had gotten it into her head that if he saw her in it, he would end whatever he had going with May. Of course, she had never gotten the guts to wear it and forgot about it until she had looked in her closet before leaving the base and thought that having a dark dress might come in handy.

As she stood staring at the knee length, black cotton dress with a v neck and covered in small red flowers, Skye didn’t notice that Louise and Lily had joined Anna in the room and all three women were standing around her, staring at the dress.

“That’s lovely, why don’t you wear that today? Do you have a pair of red flats to go with it?”  
Skye turned to face Lily, who had asked the question and reached up to pull down the shoe box that she placed on the top shelf of the closet the night before.

“My friend Jemma, who was with me when I bought the dress, told me that I need a pair of shoes to go with it. She also suggested red flats.”

“We can leave Travis to keep an eye on Mom while the four of us go shopping to find you some other clothing besides jeans and t-shirts. Besides I want to see my nephew lose his mind when he sees you in that dress,” Lily said, smirking. “He needs to suffer for screwing around with Agent May while he was in love with you.”

“How did you know that I had bought that dress with that intention in mind?”

“I sensed it when I saw you looking at it just now. Trust me, his teammates with benefits deal he had going with May would have ended the second he saw you in that dress. Hell, you could have talked him into turning his back on Garrett wearing that.”

Lily took the dress off of the hanger and handed it to Skye, motioning her to go into the bathroom across the hall to change. She might want the two of them to leave each other alone, at least until things calmed down and Skye had better control over her powers but making Grant suffer a bit for how he treated that girl had its benefits.

The bathroom door opened and right as Skye stepped out into the hallway, Grant walked into the kitchen. He was still only wearing the shorts he had on earlier and they both stopped short at the sight of each other. While the shorts only covered enough of his body to prevent him from being naked, they didn’t hide much and despite the things he had done, Skye’s fingers itched to touch him. 

She wasn’t the only one affected, Grant felt his mouth go dry as the sight of the black dress that fit perfectly to all of the right places but was still modest enough to be decent. He quickly turned around and walked out the back door before he made a fool out of himself.

Skye had walked back into the bedroom, a feeling of satisfaction going through her at his response, ignoring the giggling of the three women with her. None of them noticed Travis step into the room, rolling his eyes at them.

“When the three of you are done taking pleasure in tormenting my son, mom is awake and wants to talk to Skye.”

Skye turned fearful eyes to Lily, who smiled in encouragement before handing her the shoes she had brought to wear with the dress and letting her put them on. Lily quickly helped her fix her hair into a braid before they left the room and to the foot of the stairs.

“She won’t yell at you, sweetie. Grant must have told her you were here during his confession last night and she wants to meet the woman her grandson hurt so badly.”

Skye reluctantly followed Lily up the stairs and down the hall to the last door on the right. She watched the other woman open the door and followed her inside. The sight of a lovely elderly woman with the most vivid colored emerald eyes she had ever seen lying in the bed, reading a book greeted her.

“Hello, my dear. Don’t you look lovely?”

Skye sat down in the chair beside the bed and watched as Lily left the room, closing the door behind her. She waited for the older woman to speak again, feeling nerves start to take over.

“I’m not planning on yelling at you, Skye. My grandson did some rotten things and you should be pissed at him.”

“Mrs. Ward…”

“Call me Francesca,” Gramzy said, gently taking her hand. “Would my grandson have died in that temple if he would have followed you?”

“Yes,” Skye said, tearfully. “I watched my friend Trip die that day and the same thing would have happened to Grant.”

“I am so sorry about your friend. It sounds like he meant a lot to you,” the older woman said, placing a gentle hand on Skye’s shoulder.

“He did. He was one of the truly good people left in this world and he didn’t deserve to die like that.”

“So you were trying to save my grandson from the same fate?”

“Yes, I knew that I would be okay because I could touch the obelisk. It wouldn’t turn me to stone like it had done to everybody else that had touched it.”

The two women sat and continued to have a quiet conversation, getting to know each other and talking about the one person that they had in common. Of course that meant Gramzy having Skye pull out old photo albums and proceed to show her embarrassing pictures of Grant that had the young hacker giggling.

“Why does he have a curler in his hair?”

“He saw Louise fixing her hair for the family dinner the night before she left for boarding school and he watched her closely. His attention to everything around him was strong even then. Louise turned around and saw him with one of her curlers in his hair and took the picture with her Polaroid camera. She put it in her suitcase to make sure Milly didn’t see it and gave it to me after he disappeared. I think her heart was broken after that. He was her shadow, wherever Louise went, Grant went. All of that changed the next night but that is another story for another time.”

Skye found herself wanting to use her powers to make Grant’s mother disappear because it would make things better for her entire family. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that she would be doing the same thing she did to Grant when he was revealed to be Hydra and was imprisoned by Shield; setting herself up as judge, jury and executioner and that type of behavior was what brought on the curse that the Ward family had been dealing with for years.

“Do you wish that you had taken custody of your grandchildren away from their parents?”

“I had them for over a year but Milly put on a performance for the judge in the case and took them back from us. We never could prove she was beating them and take them back. What that woman and my gutless son did to their children was horrible and I regret ever letting them go back.”

Skye sat with Gramsy for a few more minutes before the dying woman fell asleep and she left the room to give her some privacy. It had given her somethings to think about her own attitude with Ward and regret filled her as she cried alone in her bedroom.

 

A few hours later, Simmons was in the lab when her phone beeped, indicating that she had a message. She picked up the phone and gasped at the pictures Skye had sent to her. They were of her and three other women, two of them brunettes that were obviously related to Ward. She was wearing expensive and attractive clothing that made her look different than who she normally was. The last one was of her with an elderly woman with striking green eyes, who could only be Ward’s grandmother.

She quickly left her lab and went to Melinda May’s office, knocking on the door. When she was given permission to enter from the other woman, she silently showed her the pictures and waited for the response.

“I knew letting her leave with that woman was a bad idea,” May stated, fighting to keep an unreadable expression on her face but failing at it.

“She looks happy.”

“Jemma, they are turning her into a society woman that would be suitable to marry into their family and it will be over my dead body before that happens.”

“All they were doing was buying her clothes and why are you upset about the ones with Ward’s grandmother?”

“She is probably telling her stories that are making her feel sorry for that traitor.”

Jemma watched as May stormed out of her office and went into Coulson’s. She walked back to the lab and despite her own reservations at Skye being with the Ward family, the relaxed and happy look on her face in those pictures made her glad that somebody had found some peace.

“What’s wrong, Jemma?”

She turned to face Bobbi and told her about the pictures that Skye had sent to her. How happy she looked and May’s reaction to them.

“She is worried that Skye might not come back after Lily helps her control her power,” Bobbi stated. “It also worries her that Skye is turning to another woman for advice and being a maternal figure to her. She’s jealous.”

“Could it be that simple?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it was.”

 

Grant was out in the yard, making repairs to the guest house when he felt his father come walking up to him. He tensed, bracing himself for more of the abuse like he had received from his mother. Only to have Travis start to help him by holding the board he was nailing to the side of the house.

“I sent your mother back to Massachusetts after dinner last night. Lily laid down the law and told me that things had to change because it was time to bring this family back together,” Travis stated nervously.

“You should have stood up to her when she treated her older three children like shit and was drinking every bottle of alcohol in the house,” Grant harshly bit out before taking a deep breath to calm down. “I have no room to talk because I blindly followed a man that treated me just as badly as all of you. I lost the woman I love and hurt her and other people that I care about because of that blind loyalty.”

“Son, I saw Skye’s face when she told off your mother. She still cares about you because if she didn’t, Skye wouldn’t have bothered saying anything.”

“That doesn’t matter anymore; I have to let her go. If anything ever happens with us, she has to make the first move and given the fact that she hates me enough to shoot me, I don’t see that happening.”

“There was someone before your mother but I lost her in a car accident the night I proposed to her. Sometimes you can love someone with all of your heart and it still turn out badly. I can honestly say that I never loved your mother and given how much she cherishes Tommy, her heart was always with her high school sweetheart, the man I suspect is his biological father. We just made our children suffer because we had to put up appearances instead of doing what was best and filing for a divorce.”

Father and son silently worked on the guest house, unaware of the fact that they were being watched by Francesca, who was standing in her bedroom window. She grabbed her chest and sat down in the chair beside her. Soon she would be with her Trevor again and hoped that her family would be okay and that all of the lies and pretensions were over.


	4. Painful Confessions

Later that night, after a very tense dinner where Grant had sat across from Skye and talked to Tommy to avoid staring at her or dragging her out of the room and back to the guest house. He had quickly left the dining room as soon as everybody had finished eating to go and talk to his grandmother before he went to the guest house. He had moved his things down there to make it easier to avoid Skye and to not disturb the rest of his family when he came outside early in the morning to work out.  
He was now sitting on the dark green couch that was in the middle of the small living room/kitchen area, trying to read a book. All he could see in his head was the white dress that Skye had been wearing. 

She had been even more beautiful wearing that than the black dress she had been wearing that morning and that one had him almost on his knees begging. He wouldn’t put it past the women in his family to have helped her pick that dress with the purpose of making him suffer. It had definitely been very difficult to keep his focus on his brother and not the breathtaking woman sitting across from him. It had also tested his resolve and determination in letting her go.

A knock on the door made him put the book down on the couch, get up and walk over to open it to find Skye, still wearing the dress she had worn to dinner, standing there. He had heard all of the talk about Garrett kidnapping him and had a feeling that was why she was there. He really didn’t want to have this conversation with her or anybody although he knew his aunt would get it out of him eventually.

“We need to talk,” she said before walking past him and into the guest house.

“Come on in, Skye,” he commented sarcastically before closing the door and quickly turning to face her. She rolled her eyes at his reaction.

“I don’t even have a damn gun on me, Grant. Do you want to search me for one?”

“Not a chance. You might try to kick me in the balls,” he said, rolling his eyes because there was no way in hell that he was letting himself touch her.

“Keep up with the attitude and I will attempt to do it anyway,” she shot back at him hotly.

“Oh, we are going to talk about my attitude! How about your self-righteous, hypocritical, judgmental ‘Shield can do no wrong’ attitude? Which is total bullshit and you know it. A lot of my ops where people died were for Shield, not Hydra so you can sell that shit to somebody who doesn’t know what complete crap it is. Your ledger isn’t clean either or are you forgetting about Donnie Gill and the Hydra agents you killed with the obelisk?”

The sound of Skye slapping him carried across the room and as she went to hit him again, Grant grabbed her wrists and pulled her to him to stop her. All it did was bringing them in closer contact then they had been in a year and a blistering kiss exchanged that had him releasing her wrists and the two of them clinging to each other.  
A few moments passed of light moans from both of them. That is until the feel of her hands reaching under his black t-shirt in an attempt to pull it off brought him back to reality. He pulled away from her and ran out the door, rushing past his Aunt Lily.

 

Right when Skye had walked into the guest house, Christian, Tommy, Louise and Lily had stood on the deck listening to the argument taking place in the guest house and each of them cringed at every hateful word being said.

“I might have to go down there and stop them if they get too loud,” Lily said, shaking her head in dismay.

“Aunt Lily, things have suddenly become too quiet,” Christian said, smirking devilishly. “They have either killed each other or are locked at the lips or worse.”

“Oh shit!”

Lily rushed down the stairs and over to the guest house door, getting ready to knock when Grant came running out the door of the guest house as if the devil himself was chasing him and went towards the beach. Skye came out, with tears in her eyes. Her lips were swollen from the heated kiss she and Grant had just shared.

“I’m sorry. I know you told me to stay away but I wanted to see if I could get him to tell me what happened to him in the five years he was missing,” Skye quickly explained.

“Skye, I am the only one who can get through to him when he is being stubborn and closed off like that. I always have been. If I had got to him before John Garrett, he might have gotten the help he needed when he was a teenager and would be more open than he is now. I also think he knew what you were up to and started the argument to keep from talking about it.”

Before Skye could respond, Travis stepped out onto the upper deck, fear and sorrow in his eyes.

“Everybody needs to get up here now.”

“Have you called Dr. Franklin?”

“I am getting ready to now.”

“Tommy, go and get Grant.”

Tommy rushed off of the deck and down to the beach while everybody else, except Skye went into the house. She sat down on the lounge chair that was by the back door, feeling like an outsider during this family’s time of grief.

A couple of minutes later, Grant rushed by her with Tommy right behind him, the latter stopped and spoke to Skye.

“Come and wait out in the hallway. He won’t admit it but when Gram passes Grant will need you. Put aside your differences just long enough to get him through this.”

Skye followed behind the two brothers and stood in the hall with Anna, waiting quietly as the sound of crying filtered out into the hallway. An older African American man in his fifties came up the stairs and into Gramzy’s bedroom as Grant and his siblings came out of the bedroom, all of them in tears.

Christian was in his wife’s arms while Louise comforted Thomas. Skye watched as Grant walked past her, the grief in his eyes causing her to follow him out of the house and back into the guest house.

What greeted her as she stepped in the doorway was the last thing Skye had expected; her former SO kneeling on the floor crying as if his heart was broken. She quickly rushed to his side and knelt beside him, wrapping her arms around him.

That was the sight that greeted Coulson and May as they walked past the guest house and looked into the open doorway. They had left the Playground as soon as May had shown him the pictures Skye had sent to Jemma with the intentions of bringing her back, whether she wanted to go with them or not. They also planned to arrest Grant and bring him back into Shield’s custody, only to find Skye hugging him.

“Get away from him, Skye!”  
Melinda was coming over to them with a pair of handcuffs in her hand when she went flying across the room and into the wall. Coulson turned his gun on Lily as she came across the yard and into the guest house, Louise right behind her.

“I suggest you put that gun down and get off of my property, the both of you are trespassing.”

“He is a wanted fugitive and we are taking him into custody.”

“Actually, he’s not and you aren’t taking him anywhere,” Christian said as he stepped into the room. “He was transferred into his family’s custody so you no longer have any say in what happens to him. After the fact he was kidnapped by John Garrett at fifteen years old was taken into account by the federal judge assigned to his case, Grant will be given house arrest for a year on our family’s farm in Virginia. After that, it is up to the judge what happens next.”

“That is complete bullshit.” May said as she stood up from the floor. “He only gets house arrest for killing all of those people.”

“How many people have you killed in the name of Shield or better yet for Director Coulson, Agent May?”

Louise’s question stunned everybody in the room because except for a few comments to Skye over shooting Grant, she wasn’t as confrontational as other members of her family. Although Melinda May seemed to bring out that side in her, especially after finding out that the other woman had fractured her brother's larynx. It was everything Lily could do to keep her niece from going after Melinda at that very moment.

“That was different.”

“Why? He wasn’t being the good guy when he was going to trade my nephew to Christian for a public trial and execution. All of it to make Shield legitimate in the eyes of the US government again,” Lily stated, her arms crossing over her chest. “Oh and the added bonus of getting Grant away from Skye, does ‘you’ll never see her again’, sound about right, Coulson?”

Skye felt guilt over her part in that and started to walk out of the guest house, taking Grant’s hand and pulling him behind her. The earth trembled a bit as her emotions started to get the best of her.

“What the hell are you doing, Skye?”

She turned to face Agent May and Coulson, who had asked the question. The hurt in her eyes cut them both to the quick but they were doing what they thought was best for her.

“I didn’t ask for the two of you to come here and ‘rescue’ me. I am a grown woman who made a decision to get help from someone that I knew could help me control my powers,” she stated, feeling a wave of calm come over her that caused the trembling to stop that could have only come from the two witches in the room. “The two of you need to leave because this family is in mourning. What you saw just now was me comforting someone whose grandmother had just passed away; a woman that I only met briefly but had really liked. She was a sweet lady whose death should be mourned and not thrown to the wayside over stupid and petty bullshit.”

Skye left the guest house, pulling a stunned Grant Ward behind her. He wanted to see what she would do next so he didn’t try to pull away from her. He was even more shocked when they ended up in the room she was staying in and that she had locked the door.

“So I guess we are going to have to figure how to get along while I am staying with your Aunt,” she said.

“I will stay out of your way, Skye. I am staying in the family cabin that is on the property and not the main house so we shouldn’t have to see each other except when I am helping Tommy’s boyfriend, Michael with what needs to be done around the farm.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “You promised to always tell me the truth. Tell me what Garrett did to you, make me understand why you followed him so blindly,” Skye begged him as she sat down on her bed, motioning for him to sit beside her.

“Skye, what he did to me make me stronger.”

“No, he didn’t. You became his loyal soldier who turned his back on the people that cared for you. Fitz defended you until the moment you dropped that pod in the water.”

“The fucking thing was supposed to float, Skye!”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Garrett wanted Fitz and Simmons dead and I couldn’t put a bullet in their head the way he ordered me to. I dropped the pod because I wanted to give them a chance and because it was supposed to float but then again when does anything turn out right for me. I almost killed them and Fitz will never be the same because of me. I have to live with that on my conscience for the rest of my life.”

He took a deep breath before starting to speak again. The normally calm and collected Specialist hands were trembling and so she placed a hand on his.

“Fine, you want to know what happened after Garrett broke me out of juvie, I will tell you but be prepared because it isn’t a happy story.”

Skye sat there and listened to him describe in detail everything that happened in the missing five years of his life, tears falling from her eyes as he told her about Buddy and how Garrett killed him.

Lily, who had been standing out in the hallway listening to every word, turned to a stunned Phil Coulson.

“Please tell me that son of a bitch’s death was painful,” she said, her fists clenched at her side. 

“Not painful enough,” Coulson said. “He could have told me all of this and things would have been different.”

“You should have treated him a hell of a lot better than that regardless of the fact that he wouldn’t talk. He is a human being who had rights. Did you know that Peggy Carter treated Daniel Whitehall a hell of a lot better than you did my nephew?”

“How did you know that?”

“You forget that I knew Nick Fury and consulted for Shield until a year before everything with Hydra happened. He allowed me to see those records. Here’s something else that I know that you don’t and you won’t like it. Fury has been in contact with me and has been informed of some of the decisions you have been making. He made you Director because he hoped you would give Shield something that he didn’t. He didn’t want you to continue with the same bullshit that allowed Hydra to infiltrate in the first place.”

“If he has a problem with it, why hasn’t he said anything?”

“Maybe because he is trying to stay off the grid and calling you would make the wrong person figure out that he is still alive.”

“I still think that Skye needs to come back with me and May. She doesn’t need to be around your nephew.”

“She is a grown woman and the two of you need to stop treating her like a child,” Lily firmly stated. “I don’t like how close she and Grant have gotten since I brought her here because neither one of them are ready for any type of relationship except friendship. That being said, none of us have the right to tell them what they can and can’t do because they are both over the age of eighteen and what they do, mistake or not, is their business, not ours. Besides do you really want to try forcing her to leave and have her set off an earthquake that destroys this house and the others in the area? We are right on the shore of Sag Harbor Bay so an earthquake this close to the water is really not a good idea.”

“Fine, we will go but I still don’t like what is going on here,” Coulson said, clearly disliking what she had just said but resigned to it.

Phil, are you insane?”

Melinda May was furious at what was happening and not afraid to say so. She wanted the girl she loved like her own child away from these people, especially Grant Ward.

“Do you want to lose Skye entirely, Melinda?”

“No.”

“Her powers have changed her and we have to accept them, even if it means that she has seemingly forgiven Ward.”

“Neither one of them has completely forgiven the other for what they did to each other. The only thing that is happening is that she is being there for him during a very difficult time and he is accepting it, for now,” Lily commented. “Now I need to get back to starting the process of burying my mother so the two of you need to leave and let my family grieve in private.”

Lily walked away and back upstairs to her mother’s room, while Coulson and May walked out of the house, reluctant to leave Skye there but unable to force her to leave.

“Phil, I don’t like this. How can we trust that Lily Ward isn’t a traitor like her nephew?”

“Melinda, I think you are jealous over how quickly Skye took to her and the seemingly maternal bond they have developed. We have to accept that while Skye thinks of us as paternal figures, the two of us aren’t what she needs right now. Lily can help her and we have to let her.”

“I’m not jealous,” May muttered before she stormed towards the SUV they had taken from where they had landed the Bus at a small airfield two hours away.

Coulson didn’t say a word because he knew it the wrong thing would get him punched. He just followed her, looking back to see the Senator and his wife standing on the lower deck, comforting each other. It brought back memories of his own grandmother and how much her passing had devastated him. A wave of sympathy came over him for the entire family, even Grant as he got into the SUV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Ward shared a kiss in this chapter but all it did was make things even more complicated. Skye is finally starting to stand up for herself with Coulson and May. The fact they treated her like a little kid that had to do whatever they said and not as a grown woman was one of my pet peeves from last season.


	5. Saying Goodbye

The day of his Gramsy’s funeral, the last thing Grant Ward expected to see was the sight of Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons walking up to him outside of the church. The two agents who had been trying to catch him at the bus station that day and another African American man that was taller than even him were all with them.

“I’m sorry about your grandmother’s passing,” Jemma said.

Grant could see sympathy but also fear in her eyes. He felt his heart sink because he knew that he wasn’t forgiven. He was glad to see them despite that.

“Thank you, Jemma.”

Things quickly got even more awkward as Skye walked over wearing a modest black dress and heels of the same color, her hair pulled into a neat bun on the back of her neck. She ignored Jemma, still angry about the fact that she had showed May the pictures and inadvertently caused the uproar that had taken place the night of Francesca's death.

“Lily sent me out here to get you because they are getting ready to start the service.”

She slid her arm into Grant’s and walked with him into the church. Fitz watched them before turning to Jemma stunned at what he had just seen.

“She is acting like she is a member of their family. In fact, Skye is acting like Ward’s wife or something.”

“Fitz, she has been around them for five days and has bonded with Lily. She is also in love with Ward but all of her anger at him made her forget that for a time,” Jemma explained. “We might not like what is happening but she has to make her own choices.”

“Ward didn’t look too comfortable with her doing that so I don’t think they are together,” Bobbi commented before sliding her arm into Lance’s and leading everybody inside the church.

They all sat down with Coulson and May a couple of rows back from the front, watching as the Ward family was escorted into the chapel. It shocked all of them at the sight of Skye sitting with Grant as if the man hadn’t lied to and betrayed her.

“She is acting like a Stepford wife or something,” May quietly commented to Coulson. “Something is wrong with her.”

“Melinda, you are overreacting.”

“No, I am not,” she muttered to herself, continuing to watch as Skye talked quietly to Ward.

 

Grant leaned over to whisper in Skye’s ear as she sat beside him, his own confusion at her behavior making him say something.

“What is wrong with you? Why are you acting this way?”

“I am being there for you as a friend because in the short time I knew your grandmother, I liked her and she loved you very much. We aren’t a couple despite the kiss we shared that night. That might change while we are both at the farm, it might not but it is up to me and you, nobody else. It is time that Coulson, May, Simmons and Fitz get that through their heads. So this is me proving a point and being there for a friend.”

Before Grant could respond, Lily walked up to the podium that was up above the pews by a small flight of stairs. She placed the notes for her speech on their and wiped a tear from her eye before starting to speak.

“My mother was my best friend and we had a bond that I never completely understood until a few years ago when I watched an episode of a TV show that we liked to watch together. One of the characters had lost her sister and had described their relationship as being connected to an invisible tether and she could feel her no matter how far away they were from each other. That she now had a feeling of nothingness because everytime she reached out to that tether, her sister was no longer there. That is how I felt about my mother, we had an unbreakable bond that I always could count on and now she is gone. The only thing keeping me from wanting to crawl into a hole and die is the fact that my family needs me and my mother would come back and haunt me.”

Skye felt tears fill her eyes at Lily’s words and could see that Grant was fighting not to fall apart. It made her think of her own efforts to cut the ties she had formed with him after all hell had broken loose with Hydra. All of the anger and hatred that led to her shooting him hadn’t been enough to break them completely.

“My mother was one of the most kind and caring people ever born on this planet. She tried to protect her grandchildren from an abusive situation and most of the time failed but she never stopped trying. When one of her grandsons was taken from her by a very evil man, she never forgot him and one of the last things she got to do before joining my father in the afterlife was reunite with her lost grandchild and be the comforting ear he needed. That was my mother, putting the needs of the people she loved over her own.”

“One of my mother’s favorite singers was Frank Sinatra and my brother and I have put together a tribute video for her to the song that she and my father danced to at their wedding.”  
Lily sat back down and a video started to play on the screen to Always by Frank Sinatra. Images went across the screen of Francesca and her late husband at various moments of their life together before images of her with her children and grandchildren came over the screen, ones from when they were young and current ones taken on her final two days even the one of her with Skye. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church as the video finished playing, even the Shield agents who had never met Francesca Ward.

 

An hour later, there was a gathering of friends and family at the Ward family’s home in the Hampton’s and Fitz took in his surroundings in awe.

“Trip did say that the Ward family could be compared to the Kennedy’s and he was right. This house is huge.”

“Money doesn’t buy happiness, Fitz,” Jemma commented as she watched the Ward family wade through the crowd in the house, the only one missing was Grant.

She then looked out the window and saw him standing at the top of the steps that led down to the beach, staring out at the water. The sorrow in his eyes brought tears to her eyes because despite her anger at him, she could still feel sympathy for him at losing someone he loved.

Jemma saw Skye standing with Anna Ward, the two of them having a quiet conversation. She walked over to her friend and stopped short at the anger that flared in the other woman’s eyes when Skye saw her.

“I’m sorry, Skye. I didn’t think May would react like that. I just wanted her to see how peaceful and relaxed you seemed.”

“How about I leave the two of you alone to talk?”

Anna walked away and left Skye and Jemma by themselves, the tension between them so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“I know she thinks that Lily was trying to transform me into someone I’m not. I wanted to go shopping with them because all I had was t-shirts and jeans to wear. I needed more clothes and Lily offered to buy them. It was fun to go on a shopping trip and not have to worry about somebody following me so they could get closer to Shield.”

“I regretted it the moment that I showed them to her. Bobbi told me that she thinks May is jealous of the bond you have quickly formed with Lily. She seems to be filling a role that May can’t right now.”

“I had a mother and Daniel Whitehall took her from me. Coulson did us all a favor when he killed that man. I have room in my heart for more than one maternal figure in my life just as my biological father fails to realize that I can have both him and Coulson and that is why I don’t want him around me.”

“You seem to have changed your mind on a lot of things, Skye.”

“Watching someone you care about die in front of you does that. If I hadn’t of run off the way I did, Trip wouldn’t have been in that temple with me and he would still be alive. I have to live with that on my conscience,” she commented. “Grant expressed the same regrets to me over you and Fitz.”

“I don’t want to talk about this, Skye.”

“Jemma, was that pod supposed to float?”

“Yes.”

“Would Ward have known it was supposed to float?”

“Yes. He paid attention to everything.”

“That was his job as a specialist. So when he dropped that pod with the both of you in it, he could have thought it would float and that somebody would come along and rescue you. It was either that or John Garrett shoot all three of you in the head.”

Jemma walked away without saying a word as Lily walked up to Skye after hearing the last part of their conversation.

“Did you think it would be that easy, Skye? I made an offer to Coulson that I would pay for a therapist to stay on base and be there to help his agents with any issues they might have. The judged ordered Grant to see one while he is on house arrest and would take into account their recommendation after the year was up.

“That will be a good thing for him.”

“I think so and maybe you need to talk to someone too. You have been through a lot this year and maybe talking to someone who isn’t tied to the whole thing will also help control your emotions and keep your powers under control too.”

“What about Hydra? Do you worry about them coming after Grant or the both of us when we all leave here?”

“Skye, they tried to grab me one time and found out the hard way that my magic is very powerful. My farm has a very strong fence around it and with enough enchantments and spells to scare off Thor himself, I don’t play around with my family’s safety.”

“Even with my own powers, you still freak me out when you talk about spells and enchantments.”

Lily laughed before walking away, leaving Skye to wander outside and over to where Grant was still standing.

“I won’t ask if you are okay.”

“Thank you,” he quietly commented before staring back at the water.

“Are you going to try to come back to Shield after the year is up?”

“No. I am going to help out on the farm and then find another way to take Hydra down. Kara is with your father right now because he is trying to find out how to get that mask off of her face.”

“I don’t know what I am going to do after Lily finishes helping me control my powers. She said that whatever I do is my choice and that nobody else can make it for me. I feel like I owe Coulson for giving me a purpose in life but after how he started to treat me after San Juan, I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said, ignoring the jealousy that washed over her when he mentioned Kara Palamas or Agent 33. She knew that he had left San Juan with her and had been helping the other woman find out who she was.

“Sounds like the same thing she said to me after I talked to her about the deal that the family lawyer made. She said that I have to stop living for everybody else and find something for myself,” he commented. “Just so you know Kara and I aren’t romantically involved. She has a girlfriend that she loves very much.”

Before Skye could respond, an average looking woman with blond hair and as tall as Skye stepped into the back yard. With her was a teenage boy that was a dead ringer for pictures she had seen of Grant at fifteen years old. She glanced over at Grant and saw his eyes get wide at the sight of the boy and a look of recognition at the woman.

“Your aunt has been avoiding me for days but I knew I would find you at your grandmother’s funeral. My name is Lisa Decker and this is my nephew, Kyle. I’m sure you remember my sister, Tami. I would say by the look on your face, you have figured out that Kyle is your son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of this chapter, when I originally posted it on fanfiction.net, got some mixed reviews at first and I can understand why. There is a reason for this twist and it will play into the story even more as it goes on.


	6. The Past Comes Back To Haunt Him

Grant faced down the blond in front of him and didn’t back down from her glare. He knew exactly who her sister was and that if Kyle was his son, his family had never been told about the boy. That Lisa Decker had no right to act like the innocent victim.

“I should remember her because I lost my virginity to her right before I was sent to military school when I was fifteen. If Kyle is sixteen years old and the fact that he looks almost exactly like me when I was the same age, then the odds are pretty good that he is my child. My question is why am I just now finding out about him, Lisa?”

“Tami wouldn’t tell us who his father was until right before she died when Kyle was five and she left him to me. I didn’t tell your family because I was afraid they would take him from me. My job has transferred me to the London office and I can’t take Kyle with me, so now it is your turn to take care of him.”

Skye watched Kyle as all of this was going on and recognized the look his eyes. It was one of hurt because nobody seemed to want him and the person who had raised him was seemingly throwing him away. Her compassionate heart went out to him because she had been there after every foster family had sent here back to St. Agnes.

“Skye, take Kyle upstairs to the room that Grant was staying in before he moved to the guest house,” Lily calmly stated but everybody could see that she was very pissed off.

“Lisa, you can leave now. Our attorney’s will have papers ready for you to sign in the morning giving me custody of Kyle.”

The woman stomped off and left, not even bothering to say goodbye to her nephew. Lily walked over to hers and placed a gentle hand on his arm.

“If I would have known about him, he would have lived with me and mom. Your mother wouldn’t have had any access to him.”

“What do I do, Aunt Lily? There is a sixteen year old that is most and likely my son and I don’t know what to do.”

“Talk to him, Grant. Get to know him. He probably has some questions about you and I can see that you are curious about him.”

“That’s another thing. How do I explain my past to him? He will be ashamed of me before I can even get to know him.”

“If he asks about your past, be honest with him. You know from personal experience what happens when you lie to someone you love, don’t make the same mistake with him that you did with Skye and your former teammates. We will take him to the farm with us and he can stay with you in the cabin.”

* * *

 

Skye led Kyle up to the second floor and to the bedroom he would staying in, watching as the boy sat down on the bed, staring at the wall.

“I have been where you are at, Kyle,” Skye said, walking over to him.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” the boy sullenly said to her.

“That’s another trait you share with your father,” Skye said, sitting down beside him. “It used to take me being an annoying pain in the ass to get him to talk to me.”

“She raised me and didn’t even say goodbye, she just threw me away to live with a family that I don’t know.”

“It’s royally fucked up, that’s for sure.” Kyle grinned at that vulgar statement before turning to see Grant standing in the doorway, watching the two of them silently.

“I’m going to go downstairs and leave the two of you alone to talk,” Skye said, getting up off of the bed and walking over to where Grant was still standing. “Go easy on him; he is just as scared as you are.”

Grant watched her walk down the hall before stepping into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Did you know about me before today?”

“No. Your mother never tried to tell me and wouldn’t have been able to find me if she had.”

“Why?”

Grant sat down beside his son and told him everything from getting sent to military school to his own house arrest that would start as soon as all of them got to the farm in Virginia. The boy quietly took in his new found father’s words before starting to speak.

“Do you regret any of the bad things you have done?”

“Yes, I do, especially the ones that caused pain to people that I really cared about.”

“I can see why you are in love with Skye, she’s hot.”

Grant started to laugh at his son’s words before calming down long enough to comment.

“Yes, she is but she also was one of the most compassionate and caring people I had ever met and a free spirit who saw things differently than I did at the time. I am partially responsible for killing that part of her and I have to live with that.”

“I don’t think it is completely gone, she just buried it to keep from getting hurt again.”

Kyle’s stomach started growl from hunger and Grant turned concerned eyes to him.

“How about we go downstairs and find you something to eat? Besides your aunts and uncles will want to officially meet you, just be careful around your Uncle Christian. Your grandfather is down there too but I don’t know how he will act around you. This won’t be an easy adjustment for either one of us and knowing my father, he will want a DNA test done to prove that you are mine but all I have to do is look at you to see it.”

“Why?”

“You look exactly like I did at your age. I will show you some of your great grandmother’s pictures sometime.”

They got up and walked downstairs, ignoring the blatant stares from the people who knew the family and Shield agents wondering who Kyle was.

* * *

 

A couple of hours later, the house had emptied of its guests leaving the Ward family and the Shield team behind. Skye could see Kyle staring at the black Steinway baby grand piano sitting in the corner of the living room with longing.

“Do you know how to play?”

“Yes. I have been taking lessons since I was five. Aunt Lisa paid for them because she said I had a gift. Do you think they would mind if I tried it out?”

“Show us what you can do, sweetie,” Lily said gently as she walked up to her great nephew.

Kyle slowly got up and walked over to the piano, lifting the lid and sitting down on the black bench. He started a few warm up notes that quickly grabbed his new found family’s attention before he started to play the opening of Billy’s Joel’s ‘New York State Of Mind’ and had now brought every eye in the room towards him.

A soulful voice beyond his years started to come out of Kyle’s mouth that had Grant watching the boy in shock and made all conversation in the room stop. By the time he had finished playing the last note, Kyle jumped in shock at the applause that greeted him.

“I think I know why Lisa left him like that,” Grant quietly commented to his aunt and the others around him. “She can’t afford the education he needs to enhance what he can already do with music.”

“We’ll make sure he gets it,” Travis stated, shocking his sister and children. “That boy is a treasure that your mother would have destroyed if he had been with us.”

“I wouldn’t have let her hurt him the way she did your children,” Lily fiercely stated.

“Mother is to be kept away from him, she lost any right to be a grandmother after the crap she pulled on us as kids,” Grant said before walking over to where Skye, Jemma and Bobbi were surrounding Kyle, in awe of his talent.

He didn’t know what to say to this young man that was his son but thought about what he would have loved for his own father to have said to him.

“Great job, son.”

“Thank you,” Kyle responded shyly.

“Why did you call him son, Ward?”

Grant turned to face Coulson, who had asked the question, and looked confused about what was going on.

“He is my son, Coulson. I was sixteen when he was born and his mother never told me about him before she died. His aunt told me today before leaving him with me. So if anything happens to him because anybody with a grudge wants to come after me, there will be hell to pay. I will make sure of it,” Grant said before motioning for Kyle to follow him.

The boy followed his father out of the room and a shocked Philip Coulson turned to his team, especially Melinda May.

“Any ideas you had of trying to capture Grant Ward, despite his deal with the US Government is over. That boy will not get caught in the crossfire.”

“Were you planning on breaking the law and basically kidnapping Grant back into Shield custody despite the deal his family worked out for him?”

Skye’s voice was full of hurt and anger as she looked at her SO and the woman she had thought of as a mother.

“He doesn’t deserve that deal and should be made to pay for his crimes.”

“What gives you the right to set yourself up as judge and jury, May? I know that up until a week ago I had the same attitude you did until I found out just what he has dealt with in his life. That man didn’t stand a chance in hell of stopping John Garrett from brainwashing him after that mother of his and Christian got done hollowing him out. He has made peace with Christian because he was treated the same way by his mother but I don’t see him ever forgiving her. After seeing the horrible way she treats him, that woman is the one who deserves your anger. She set the whole thing in motion by being a miserable excuse of a human being who wanted to make her husband and children just as miserable as she is.”

Skye stormed out of the parlor while Lily stood up, glaring at Agent May.

“I think your team needs to be made aware of a few things that have happened over the past few days.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“My nephew is no longer Shield’s problem. The federal judge has put him under my custody on my family’s farm in Virginia and he can’t leave there for a year unless it is under an extreme emergency.”

“Why was he only given house arrest?”

Lily turned to face Fitz. She didn’t see any anger just curiosity.

“Some new evidence has come up from his past that has made the judge have some sympathy for him. He also has to be back in the cabin that is a mile away from the main house by five o’clock every evening and up at five every morning to work ten hours a day on the farm. This isn’t a cushy sentence for him; he will work his ass off for the entire year.”

“He deserves worse than that,” Simmons muttered to herself.

“It isn’t up to any of us what Grant deserves, the judge that his case was assigned to has made his decision and all of us have to live with it,” Coulson said reluctantly.

The discussion continued on as various members of Coulson’s team had questions while Skye watched Kyle and Grant toss a football around the backyard. The sound of the back door opening made her turn to see Tommy come out the backdoor. He was the only other member of the Ward family besides Lily and Grant that had stayed after the reception was over.

Louise had returned to Boston and her job as a therapist with a specialty in dealing with abused children. It seemed to fit given the abuse she had experienced as a child. Travis had left with Christian and Anna to head back to Washington DC to continue with helping get his eldest son’s career back to what it was before.

“Your team members are giving Aunt Lily hell over Grant being given house arrest. Lily is handling them like a pro,” he said. “As much as my mother favored me over my other siblings, I have hated her for a long time. I watched as she babied me while treating Lou, Christian and Grant like crap. You’re right; the blame for this is at her feet. There is something else that Grant doesn’t know about and he will be very hurt and pissed off when he finds out.”

The two of them didn’t hear Kyle and Grant come walking over to the deck just in time to hear the last part of Thomas had said.

“What am I going to be pissed off about?”

“Mom paid John Garrett five million dollars a year to take you from the juvenile facility and do what he wanted. As long as you were out of her way, she didn’t care.”

The sound of a fist hitting the outside of the house  made the three people out on the deck with Grant gasp in shock. His fist was bloody as he pulled it back out the hole he had made in the siding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hits just keep on coming for Ward. It will only get crazier as someone he loves takes action against his mother for her part in the hell that Garrett put him through. I know on the show that Garrett found out about Ward from a friend that worked at the military school that he was sent to. What I find curious is how his family had never seemingly knew what had happened to him for fear that he would come back to make them pay for how he was treated.


	7. Revenge

Grant felt the earth shake under his feet as soon as his fist came out of the side of the house and glanced over to see Skye clenching her fists and her dark eyes filled with rage. He rushed over to her side, holding her face gently in his hands so he could look into her eyes and get her to focus on him.

“Skye, you need to calm down before you cause damage to the house and the others around us. It’s okay, I am not surprised that my mother did this, Aunt Lily will handle her.”

“No it’s not okay, Ward! None of this is okay, not by a long shot. I am so sorry for how I have treated you this past year,” she said, tears falling from her eyes.

Grant wiped a few of them with his thumb and felt a sense of dread go through him at the determination and fire in her chocolate colored eyes. He hadn’t seen that since before she was shot. Skye was going to do something that could get her into a lot of trouble or get herself hurt or even killed in the process. Before he could respond to that look in her eyes, Skye walked away from him and into the house, pulling her hair out of its bun as she went.

“Kyle, stay with your Uncle while I go find Aunt Lily. Maybe she can stop Skye from doing something stupid.”

“Do you think she is going to go after Mom?”

“I know that is what she is going to do, Tommy.”

Grant rushed into the house and found his Aunt walking away from the front door from where Coulson’s team had left five minutes earlier.

“Skye has already gone out the door and is getting ready to take a cab to the airport,” Lily said quietly.

“You just let her leave,” Grant exclaimed. “She is going to get herself killed! We might not have the best relationship right now but I won’t survive if anything happens to her, it nearly killed me the last time.”

“Did Skye cause that earthquake,” Kyle asked his father, in awe at what had just happened.

“Skye has a power that she hasn’t learned to control yet. That is why she is with me and not Shield, Kyle. There are things you need to know about your own family history that I will tell you about after this is over. A lot her power is tied into her emotions and despite the anger and hurt that Skye and your father have towards each other right now, they love each other deeply. They have a lot of healing to do before anything other than friendship happens between them.”

While Lily explained to Kyle what is going on, Grant ran out the front door to stop Skye from leaving and doing something that might get her severely injured or killed. She was getting into the cab and he rushed over to grab her arm.

“Skye, don’t do this. Going after my mother isn’t worth you getting hurt or killed over. Neither am I.”

“She sold her own child and hurt so many people with her actions in the process. You may not think so but you are worth fighting for and she deserves this and more for the hell she put you and your family through,” she leaned up and softly kissed him, caressing the scar on his wrist with her fingers.

“Take care of Kyle; the two of you need each other. That boy has a gift that needs to be nurtured, make sure he does something with his music. I love you, Grant Ward. I was just so angry and hurt at what you did; it was easier to lie to myself than to admit it.” She pulled away from him and quickly got into the cab before Ward could stop her, closing the door behind her.

He watched as the cab went down the road and turned back to see Lily, Kyle and Tommy watching from the doorway.

“What is going to happen to her, Aunt Lily,” he asked, his voice shaking and his eyes wet with tears. The answer he might get to this question scared the hell out of him.

“There are three ways that this ends for her. One, she accomplishes what she is planning and nothing happens to her. Two, she does what she set out to do but drains so much of her power she falls into a coma. Or the last one, she also accomplishes making your mother pay but falls and is severely injured,” Lily stated.

“I have to stop her! She can’t do this because the guilt I feel about what happened to Fitz is nothing compared to how I will if she is hurt because of me.”

“You can’t help her. She has made her choice.”

Grant’s voice was bitter as he responded to his Aunt’s comment. “What choice was that?”

“She did it for you, dad. I saw how she looks at you when she doesn’t think anybody else is looking. She loves you and it hurt her just as much as it did you to find out what your mom had done.”

“There is nothing that can be done to stop her. You just have to be there for her when she gets back here.”

“If she comes back,” Grant said before walking out of the house and towards the beach.

“Should we call Coulson and let him know what is going on,” Tommy asked. “Maybe he can stop her.”

“Coulson will lock her up for her ‘protection’. So no, the less he knows about this the better.”

The three of them went silent lost in their own thoughts as the stress of the day washed over them.

Skye sat silently in the back of the cab, pushing buttons on her tablet to set up what she needed to take care of Millicent Ward without getting into trouble. Her guilt at how she had treated Ward and anger at herself, Shield and John Garret ran strong through her. That was nothing compared to the raw fury coursing through her veins as she thought about what Grant’s mother had done to him. How she had sold her own child off to be abused and controlled by a sick piece of crap like John Garrett. She didn’t deserve to live.

* * *

 

Later that night, Skye stepped out of the car she had rented and started to walk a mile down the road towards the remote mansion Ward’s parents were staying in. When she got a quarter of a mile away, she let herself feel the anger that she was feeling towards Millicent Ward and the earth started to tremble. The house in front of her started to shake and crumble to the ground as a woman’s terrified screams shattered the quiet.

A huge hole opened up in the ground and the pieces of brick and lumber fell into them as the screaming stopped. Skye felt her body start to get weaker and thought about getting back to Kyle and Grant and the shaking stopped. She caught her breath for a few moments before turning around and walking back towards the car.

As Skye got into the small sedan she had rented under a false id, she took a deep breath before texting Lily on her cell phone.

_**‘It’s done. I am on my way back.’** _

_**‘Are you okay?’** _

_**‘Yes. Tell him that I am staying in New London overnight and taking the ferry across in the morning.’** _

_**‘Go to the airport, turn in your rental car and I will have a private jet bring you back here.’** _

_**‘Ok.’** _

Skye started the car and drove south towards Boston. She went to the airport and found that Lily had already taken care of everything and she was instantly led to the plane that was waiting for her.

* * *

 

Grant was standing on the upper deck of the main house, watching the moon shine down on the bay. His right hand wrapped in gauze from where he had punched the house. He knew that Skye was okay and that she was on her way back but until he saw her with his own eyes, the anxiety he felt wouldn’t go away.

“The two of you have a lot to talk about once she gets back,” Lily said as she joined him on the deck.

“I don’t think either of us is ready for a relationship no matter what we said to each other earlier. Like I told dad the day Gramzy died, the first move is hers.”

“I think she just made it, Grant.”

Lily’s cellphone rang and she groaned in irritation when Travis’ picture showed up on the screen.

“I have a feeling he now knows what has happened tonight.” \

Grant didn’t say a word; he just watched Lily answer the phone and heard his father’s voice loud and clear.

“Milly’s dead. A sink hole appeared under the house and it fell into it. She was crushed to death by the falling debris. We really should have had the structure of the house inspected before we bought it.”

“Yes we should have,” Lily commented with the same serious tone Travis had; only her eyes showed her true feelings about the death of her sister-in-law.

Lily walked away continuing to talk to Travis about what had happened that night while Grant followed her. He then checked on Kyle, who was playing with a laptop in his bedroom before leaving the house and walking into the guest house. The sight of Skye standing in the middle of the small living area made him stop short and stare at her for a moment or two, before she moved into his arms being held against his chest tightly.

“Are you sure that you are okay?”

“I slept on the plane, I’m fine. She won’t hurt you again, Grant. It’s done.”

“Skye, what if Coulson figures out it was you that did it? He could come here and take you back to the base in order to ‘protect’ you.”

“He might and I will have plenty of people to back me up if he does. I love him like he was my father but I have to figure out what my next step is on my own. He also knows that Lily is the only one besides my father that can help with my powers and I don’t want to deal with him right now.”

He gently kissed her on the forehead before looking down into her eyes again.

“I don’t see Aunt Lily letting Coulson take you out of here either. You saw what happened the night Gramzy died. I still haven’t figured out if it was Lily or Louise that cast the spell that threw May into that wall. It wasn’t both or it would have knocked her out.”

Skye yawned deeply as she was trying to respond to what he had said.

“I don’t think I got enough sleep on the plane. Can I stay here with you?”

“Skye…” “I don’t .want to be alone tonight and all I want right now is to sleep and for you to hold me. That is all. I know that we have to eventually talk about what happened by the cab but not right now”

“Okay.”

Ward led her to the small bedroom where one corner of the room had a king sized bed; a small dresser went along the wall across from the end of the bed, with a door to the bathroom beside it. He opened the drawer and handed her one of his t-shirts and watched as she walked into the bathroom before he pulled off everything but a t-shirt and a pair of boxers. He slid into the bed, pulling the thin blanket over him and propped up against the pillows to read while waiting for her. The door to the bathroom opened and Skye stepped out, the white t-shirt falling to mid-thigh and crawled up beside Grant. She lay down on the pillow beside his and started to fall asleep. He put his book down, turned off the lamp that was on the wall above him and moved down to where his head was lying on the pillow, letting her make the first move. It was only a few seconds before she turned on her side and buried her face into his chest. Grant turned to face her and wrapped his arms around her, letting her relax against him. The warmth of her body helped him fall asleep too.

* * *

 

Lily and Tommy were standing out on the deck, watching as the lights went out in the guest house. They were both worried about Grant and Skye and the fact that they were sharing a bed, it was too soon and could cause a lot of problems.

“What did Dad say?”

“They are convinced that it was damage to the structure of the house and not caused by an earthquake. Who is going to believe that there was an earthquake in Boston, Massachusetts?”

“So Skye won’t get into trouble?”

“Your father is going to make sure she doesn’t. He likes Skye and thinks that once they get things worked out to where they can have a relationship that she is good for Grant and seems to already love Kyle.”

“Has Louise been told what is going on?”

“Your father told her everything about the money and what Skye did. Her response was ‘that she beat me to it’,” Lily quietly said.

“Does it say something bad about all of us that we aren’t grieving for Mom and we didn’t stop Skye from going after her?”

“It says that she burned her bridges with all of us and that she killed any affection that any of us had for her."

"The only thing that worries me is how this will eventually affect Skye. I know Grant has said that she has crossed people off for Shield but this was the first time she willingly used her powers to do it.”

“You are a good man, Thomas Jacob,” Lily said, hugging her youngest nephew.

She didn’t care if he wasn’t related by blood because in every way that counted, this compassionate young man was her nephew.

“Are you ready to see Michael when we get to the farm the day after tomorrow?” Thomas blushed and walked into the house to get away from his Aunt’s embarrassing question. Lily watched the moon over the water with a sense of longing for a romance of her own before walking into the house and locking the back door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Serenity Shadowstar for their help in the idea for and helping me write part of this chapter. A lot of this dialogue in the first part was theirs or inspired by what was sent by PM to me.


	8. Life On The Farm

The next day everybody had left the Hamptons and moved down to the Ward family farm that was north of the small town of Cana, Virginia. The largest city close by was a fifty minute drive into Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

It was on two hundred acres of land and had a hundred foot red brick wall that surrounded it. There was only one entrance onto the property and that was wrought iron gate that could only be opened by a security guard that sat in a bullet proof booth inside of it.

There was a two mile driveway from the gate to the three story grey brick farm house. It had a wraparound porch and rocking chairs surrounding it. It was a lovely home that had a family room that was beside the kitchen, a formal living and dining room, a study, a powder room, a full bathroom and two bedrooms on the lower floor for the house keeper, a Hispanic woman in her forties Adele and her fifteen year old daughter, Elena.

The second floor had four bedrooms and individual bathroom in each one where Travis, Christian, Tommy and Louise stayed when they came for a visit and a master suite on the top floor for Lily. There was a pool outside with a small pool house for changing clothes and not dragging water into the main house. The barns and stables where the animals were kept were a quarter of mile away and golf carts were used to travel between the buildings, if they didn’t want to walk that far.

Two miles past the barns was a two story log cabin that had a huge wraparound porch with a view of a pond at the back of it. There were baskets of varying colors of pansies hanging from hooks that were in the top edge of the porch; their scent filling both in and outside of the cabin.

A week after leaving the Hamptons, Skye sat on the cabin's porch with her laptop; chatting with Jemma on Skype and listening to Kyle play the piano through the open window. Grant was helping Tommy and his boyfriend Michael with the horses up in the stable; letting them out for exercise in the pasture and cleaning their stalls.

“Is that Kyle?”

“Yes. Lily drove down to Winston-Salem and bought him the same type of piano that he played in their Hamptons vacation home. Instead of putting it in the formal living room of the farmhouse, she had it put in the living room of the cabin so he could use it.”

“Skye, are you living in the cabin with Ward and his son?”

Skye could hear the worry in her friend’s voice and knew that her friend still had her issues with Ward despite everything that had been revealed about his past. Before she could even respond to her previous one, Jemma asked another question.

“Did you use your power to destroy the house his mother was in?”

“Jemma, I am not talking about that.”

“Nobody is going to lock you up. Travis Ward came here and had it out with Coulson and surprisingly enough, your father was with him; all three of them are protecting you. There is something else,” she said, biting her lip nervously.

“What happened, Jemma?”

“Mr. Ward wanted to see Vault D and when he saw that Ward didn’t have access to a bathroom down there, he went bloody crazy. I thought he was going to strangle Coulson for the inhumane conditions that he said Ward was kept in. Coulson is in spin mode right now because if Mr. Ward tells Senator Ward, all hell is going to break lose.”

“My father and Coulson didn’t get into a fight?”

“No. Your father was just as angry as Mr. Ward though. May tried to defend him and Mr. Ward told her that if she didn’t stop, he would have her charged with using excessive force when she arrested Ward last year. That he had plenty of evidence to prove it.”

“Lily’s influence as the head of the family is already being felt. She told Mr. Ward that it was time to bring their family back together. Now that Grant’s mother isn’t around to cause trouble, it has been easier.”

“Skye, do you feel bad for what you did to her?”

“A part of me does but then I think about all of the pain she caused,” she commented quietly before noticing Grant walking towards the cabin and glanced at the time on her laptop. It was four forty five, fifteen minutes before Ward had to be inside the cabin. “I’ll call you back tomorrow, Jemma.”

Skye disconnected from Skype and waited until he got to where she was at on the porch. He sat down in a chair beside her, rubbing the sweat off of his face with his t-shirt. It was already starting to get hot and they were predicting an even more humid than usual summer for that part of the country. He grabbed a water bottle out of the small cooler sitting on the porch and had drunk half of the bottle before saying anything.

“I love working with the animals but even with my Specialist training and daily workouts that was exhausting.”

“Are you going to be okay with not being able to leave this property for a year?”

“This is meant to be a punishment so I have to be okay with this. Working hard like this isn’t new for me; my life wasn’t easy out in the woods when I was a teenager. This is easy compared to that.”

The music drifting through the window turned into Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and the both of them stopped talking. They let themselves listen to the haunting quality of the piece for a few moments.

“I heard you and Lily talking last night about Kyle’s education and how your dad thinks he needs to go to a private school that has a better music program. In the end it is yours and Kyle’s decision.”

“I am not sending him away to go to school. I just found out about him and after he had to watch his Aunt walk away from him, I want him here with me. I am going to send him to the public school in the area and pay for him to have private music lessons,” Ward firmly stated.

“I see you decided to take Adele’s advice.”

The housekeeper had been a great source of advice for Ward in dealing with a teenager and Kyle had struck up a friend with Elena, a pretty but shy fifteen year old. It was cute to see them walking between the cabin and the main house, a barely five foot tall girl with cocoa colored skin, dark eyes and a skinny body and the almost six foot tall boy, who was developing some muscle helping out on the farm.

Grant smiled at the sight of Elena running down the driveway towards the cabin with her backpack on her shoulder and a Tupperware container in both hands. He grinned over at Skye, who returned it, both of them knowing about Kyle’s crush on the young girl.

“Kyle, Elena’s here.”

The music stopped on the piano and the teenage boy quickly rushed out onto the porch. He rolled his eyes at the smirks on the faces of Skye and his father as they watched Elena step up onto the porch and hand the plate to Kyle.

“My mother made some lasagna for dinner tonight and asked me to bring some down here for all of you. She said that none of you eat like you should.”

“Kyle, take that into the kitchen,” Ward said before speaking to the young girl. “Tell your mother we said thank you.”

“I will,” she smiled shyly at him, blushing like crazy before Kyle came back out and the two teenagers ran up to the barn.

“I would say that a certain someone has a crush on both father and son,” Skye commented, smirking wickedly.

“She will have to settle for the son, I like my women at least a decade older than that,” he winked at Skye, who started to flush at how suggestive that last part sounded.

Things got quiet between them as they stood up and walked around to the back part of the porch were they could look over the pond. She sat down in the one of the chairs back there and waited for him to speak.

“We need to talk about what happened the night my mother died. You told me you loved me but despite what Raina said in San Juan, I never said it back. I do love you, Skye but for now, I need to focus on taking care of my son and learning to deal with my house arrest.”

“I agree. There are too many things that both of us need to focus on to give any type of relationship the time it needs.”

“Did you really shoot me because you were trying to keep me from following you down in those tunnels or were there other reasons?”

“Ward, you were acting like a stalker and it was scary as hell. I was so full of anger at you and May and Coulson did everything to encourage it.”

“My therapist told me that I transferred my loyalty to Garrett onto you and that even though the love I have for you is real, I handled it the wrong way,” he explained, watching as a family of ducks floated across the pond.

“Did you ever have any feelings for May?” “

She was a mission, Skye. I’m not blind, she is a very beautiful woman but she wasn’t the one I wanted in Dublin that night.”

“I can see why Garrett wanted her distracted but couldn’t you have come up with a better way than sleeping with her.”

“She made the first move when she left the door to her room open and I went along with it because I thought that was what Garrett would have wanted me to do.”

“Did you ever have second thoughts about following Garrett?”

“When he had you shot but the hold he had over me was too strong. I felt like I owed him everything only to find out that I was a payday for him and nothing more.”

“You know where the money is, don’t you?”

Grant turned to face Skye, who was smirking at him. He had promised not to lie to her again and he would keep it but still had reservations about telling anybody where Garrett’s bank accounts were located. Well everybody except Lily and now Skye.

“Yes and I was going to tell Aunt Lily but as you remember I got distracted by you going after my mother and trying to stop you,” he explained.  “Garrett put one of my aliases that I use on his bank accounts. But until I get off house arrest, getting the money isn’t happening.”

“Unless we use a nanomask and send somebody else in there with your face.”

“Not a chance in hell,” he strongly stated. “I saw what that thing did to Kara when she fought with Agent May and it is stuck on her face. Your father had a time fixing the damage that thing did and we found someone to fix the mask but it won’t come off. Luckily we found a picture of what Kara looked like before the damn thing went on her face.”

“So you were with my father and Kara for the past six months?”

“Yes. It took four months for me to heal from after you shot me.”

Skye felt a wave of shame fill her as she thought about what she had done. She walked over to him and reached over to lift up the right side of his black t-shirt. Ward flinched when he realized what she was going to do.

“Skye…”

“I need to see what I did to you.”

He reluctantly let her lift the shirt up and felt his heart stop at the tears that filled her eyes. She took in the places where the bullets she had fired entered his body and looked up into his amber eyes.

“As much as I want to say I’m sorry for what I did, I can’t. You would be dead and Kyle wouldn’t have you in his life.”

They both suddenly became aware of how close they were together and he leaned down to kiss her. Their lips were almost touching when Lily came around the porch and started walking towards them.


	9. An Unexpected Visitor

Skye groaned in irritation before she stepped away from Ward, who didn’t look happy to see his Aunt either.

“I would say that I am sorry for interrupting you but given the conversation I just overheard, I’m glad that I did,” Lily said, grinning devilishly. “Skye, your father and Kara have arrived with Travis, Louise and Christian. Tommy is going to stay with Michael in his apartment above the barn so I am putting him in his room and I brought Kara down here to stay in the extra bedroom.”

“That would be the better idea because I think there needs to be some distance between Skye and Cal for right now,” Grant commented. “I think I will go in and talk to Kara.”

Grant walked into the back door of the cabin as Skye sat down with her head in her hands. Lily sat down beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“You don’t have to deal with him if you don’t want to. He came here with Travis because the two of them needed to discuss more ways to keep anybody from finding out what happened to Milly. I can be there to represent you and let you tell me what you want to do. You should have a say in what happens.”

“No, I have to face him sometime. Thank you for offering though. I will most and likely need to use what you have already taught me in controlling my powers,” Skye stated ruefully.

“I will tell them that we can wait until tomorrow morning to deal with this. That way everybody can have a good night’s sleep,” Lily said, getting up and starting to walk back around to the front of the house.

Skye followed her and watched as she got into the golf cart and drove it back to the main house. She went inside and glanced around the open kitchen/living and dining area before following the voices come from one of the two bedrooms on the ground floor.

When she saw Kara, Skye knew that the picture Ward and the other woman had found had been a good one.  She had seen the pictures in her Shield file and uncertainty filled her as she watched how close Ward and the other woman were. She seemed to be the type of woman that Grant was attracted to. The dark hair, brown eyes and olive skin that she shared with Skye and Melinda May.

“Skye, now that she has her own face back, I would like to introduce you to Kara Palamas.”

Skye slowly walked into the room and shook the other woman’s hand. They took measure of each other for a few seconds before pulling away. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m glad you broke through the brainwashing that Whitehall put you through.”

“I couldn’t have done it without Grant and your father’s help. Now what is this I hear about Grant having a sixteen year old son? I met him up at the main house and the last I saw he was having a conversation with Cal about classical composers.”

The three of them stuck with the safer topic of Kyle instead of talking about the events of San Juan. Kyle, who had since come back to the cabin, then started to play a song for Kara on the piano while his dad and Skye worked on dinner.

* * *

Up at the main house, Lily stepped into the study and closed the door behind her. She turned and faced her older brother and Cal, who were waiting for her.

“Skye wants to be a part of any decisions made on how to keep her part in Milly’s death a secret. She is staying in the cabin with Grant and Kyle so that gives her some space.”

“She still doesn’t want to see me?”

“No but then again she is trying to control her power and, despite the two of them telling themselves they aren’t ready for a relationship, they also end up in situations that finds them almost giving into them in a physical manner everytime they are alone together.”

Both men shudder at her reference making Lily roll her eyes at her brother and Skye’s father.

“Skye and Grant are adults and neither one of them are virgins. I will tell the two of you the same thing that I told Phil Coulson. As much as I think they shouldn’t get involved with each other, at least for right now, they are adults. We don’t get to tell them how they live their lives, mistake or not, their choices are their own.”

“My wife would have liked you, Lily,” Cal stated. “She would have felt the same way you do right now. I just wish Daisy would let me tell her more about her mother.”

“Give her time, Cal. The two of you might have a chance in the future to have a conversation. Sometimes patience is a virtue,” she stated, getting a sense that Cal wasn’t saying something about his late wife.

“Now, given that I have just read your mind Travis and saw the conditions Shield had my nephew in, what do you plan to do about it?”

“Coulson was trying to say that Grant tried to commit suicide three times and that is why they kept him like that.”

“So they just patched him and put him right back in that cell after every attempt and didn’t try to get him any therapy?”

“That was my take on the situation.”

“Now like I said, what do you plan to do about the conditions they put your son in? You fucked up as a father for the first thirty two years of his life and I don’t know why but he seems to be giving you another chance. I think you need to talk to him and get his opinion on what he wants to happen in regards to Shield.”

“I agree. You could lose your son all over again if you go off on Shield and he doesn’t want you to,” Cal commented. “I found that out the hard way.”

“I will talk to Grant in the morning after breakfast in the morning.”

All of sudden all three of them felt the ground shake and Lily turned pale before running out of the room with Louise, who had come flying down the stairs, rushing out the door behind her. Christian and Tommy joined their father and Cal, who had left the study and watched as Lily and Louise got into a golf cart, with Lily behind the wheel. They took off towards the cabin as fast as they could.

“I would go down there and try to help but I think my presence would only upset Daisy even more,” Cal commented sadly before going upstairs to the room he was staying in.

“Who’s Daisy, dad?”

Travis turned to Tommy, who had asked the question.

“That is Skye’s birth name.”

“I wonder what she found out that caused her to make the ground shake,” Christian stated.

“I hope she didn’t find out that Hydra is after Grant.”

“What!” Both men exclaimed before turning to their father for an explanation.

* * *

A few minutes earlier, Kara was sitting and listening to Kyle play the piano while Skye was helping Ward heat up the lasagna and preparing a salad and garlic bread for their dinner. The other woman had got up and walked into the kitchen area and smiled softly at Grant.

“Your son is very talented and has a gift.”

“Yes he does and I will make sure he has the life I never got to have.”

“Grant, are you worried about what will happen if Hydra ever finds out about Kyle? You know they have a price on your head after San Juan,” Kara commented.

“They have a what!”

Grant cringed at the shrill tone in Skye’s voice before scowling at Kara, who didn’t look the least bit sorry for revealing that little tidbit of information.

“Thank you, Kara for telling her that. Now all hell is about to break loose.”

The house started to shake on its foundation as Grant rushed over to take Skye into his arms, attempting to calm her down.

“Skye, do you see Hydra getting past the security measures that Aunt Lily has taken and the spells she cast on top of them? I need you to calm down,” he said soothingly.

“Whoa! Is she doing that?”

“Yes she is, Kara. Take a wild guess as to who we have to thank for getting her that upset in the first place.”

“I am so sorry; I just thought she needed to know about how Hydra was coming after you. I didn’t mean to upset her that badly.”

He didn’t say a word to his friend before picking up Skye and taking her upstairs and into the master bedroom. He had to get her away from everybody and calm her down.

“Are they sharing a room, Kyle?”

“Yes. They think I don’t know because she goes into her room at first but somehow she ends up with Dad before the night is over,” Kyle answered her question before shuddering. “Thankfully they haven’t done anything yet because I would have heard it if they had.”

Kara grinned at the expression on his face and the typical teenage comment in regards to their parents and sex. She was getting ready to respond when Lily and Louise rushed into the cabin.

“Why did you tell her that, Kara?”

“I wasn’t aware that she could create earthquakes and I thought she needed to know that Hydra was after Grant,” She explained to Lily.

“Where are they?”

“He took her up to his room so he could calm her down.”

Louise rolled her eyes at her nephew’s words before a breathless moan came from the master bedroom. All four of the people in the lower level of the cabin took one look at each other before bolting out of the house. Until a second later when Kyle rushed back inside, turned the oven off and took the lasagna out of it, sitting it on the counter before leaving again.

* * *

Skye let out another moan as another knot of tension was worked out of her shoulders by his hands. She looked up at Grant from where she was sitting on his bed.

“You have magic in your hands.”

“I could make a dirty comment to that but I won’t.”

Before Skye could respond, the front door slammed and both she and Ward went to the window, watching as Lily, Kyle, Kara and Louise all rushed into the golf cart before Kyle got out, came back into the cabin and was back outside in thirty seconds. They took off up to the main house leaving a hysterically laughing Skye and Ward behind them.

“They thought we were having sex up here.”

“Your moans were pretty loud,” Grant smirked devilishly at her.

They left his bedroom and went back to the kitchen to finish heating up dinner before starting to talk about Hydra and what it meant for Kyle’s safety everytime he left the farm.

* * *

Later that night, Kyle and Kara walked into the cabin, saw the lasagna pan covered with foil, as well as the garlic bread in its bowl and a note saying that the salad was in the refrigerator.

“Hydra is really after my dad?”

“Yes. I have a feeling you or Skye won’t be alone when you leave this farm until that situation is dealt with.”

“I want to learn to defend myself. I don’t want anything to do with the battle between Hydra and Shield but I need to know how to take care of myself if I get caught in the crossfire.”

“Be in the barn at six in the morning and I will teach you myself,” Grant said from where he was standing in the doorway, wearing a pair of pajama pants and no shirt.

“When he says six, he means six or you get fifteen pushups for every minute you are late,” Skye commented from where she was standing beside him.

Kara started to giggle at the look Grant gave Skye for her comment. She had seen Grant’s workout routine for herself once he started to really recover from being shot and the man didn’t play around.

“Just for that, the two of you get to help me train him.”

“Okay,” Kara and Skye said at the same time.

“I don’t mind helping out but when Ally gets here, I will be unavailable for a week,” Kara said, wickedly smirking at Grant, who grinned at his friend.

“Who’s Ally,” Skye asked curious about why Grant would have such a shit eating grin on his face when Kara mentioned the other woman’s name.

“Ally is Kara’s girlfriend and hopefully they will get a hotel while she is here because I have been on the other side of the bedroom wall when they are together. Earplugs do not help at all, that is all I will say to that.”

Skye and Kyle rolled their eyes as his comment before all four of them went towards their bedrooms to go to bed, Skye not even pretending to go to her own room and joining Grant in his.


	10. Grant's Decision

The next morning, when everybody was leaving the dining room in the main house after having breakfast, Grant followed his father, Cal, Lily, Kara and Skye into the study. He had a feeling it was what Skye had told him about the visit that their fathers had made to the Shield base. Glancing around at everybody in the room, Grant waited for what he knew was coming.

“I had a meeting with Coulson yesterday and he showed me the cell where you were kept. For all of the ways they claim to be the good guys, the conditions made some of the most horrible prisons in the federal prison system look humane. The only thing keeping the US Government from putting a price on their heads is because Christian is the only who knows what is going on. He will not be saying a word until you give us your decision on how you want to deal with it,” Travis explained.

“Nothing is to happen to them. If I file charges then Skye will be arrested right along with Coulson and May. She knew and did nothing to stop it and I refuse to let that happen to her. I would rather be the bigger person and just move on with my life, raising my son, going to therapy and finishing out the rest of my sentence.”

Skye breathed a sigh of relief at his words, she had played a part in what had been done to him and he could have easily had her put in jail along with Coulson and May. She also noticed that he didn’t mention what had happened with Fitz. Grant was seemingly still protecting the one person that he had hurt the worst out of everybody despite the damage he had caused.

Lily exchanged a look with Skye and the two women knew exactly why Grant wasn’t filing charges and all of it had to do with protecting Fitz, Simmons and Skye. He didn’t have any compassion for Coulson or May but would keep them out of jail to keep the other three from being in trouble.

Grant left the study and went out to the barn to help Michael with what needed to be done that day while Skye walked by her father, not saying a word to him. She walked down to the cabin, leaving the golf cart behind.

Skye entered the cabin and walked into the bedroom that was supposed to be hers and grabbed her laptop, opening up a Skype session with Jemma.

“Is everything okay, Skye?”

Jemma sounded concerned after she saw that her friend was in heightened emotional state.

“Ward just told his father not to file any charges against Shield for the conditions he was kept in. He told them that he wanted to keep me from getting into trouble but I know that he is protecting Fitz too for turning off the oxygen in his cell.”

“Skye…”

“He could have easily gotten his revenge for our actions against him but he didn’t,” Skye stated. “I don’t know what to do, Jemma.”

“Do you trust him not to hurt you again? You know my opinion on you letting yourself get close to him again but Lily Ward is right, this is your decision, nobody else. I might not like it but I am your friend and I won’t turn my back on you if you choose to be with him.”

“She’s right,” Kara said as she walked into the room.

She sat down on the bed beside the confused young woman.

“Hello, Dr. Simmons.”

“Agent 33,” Jemma inquired.

“You can call me Kara. Skye’s father is slowly but surely working on fixing the scars on my face after the mask was fixed. You can tell Agent May that she no longer has a look-a-like so she and Coulson can stop with their jokes.”

“I will tell her,” Jemma said before looking over her shoulder at a very irritated Melinda May.

“I am so sorry for the phone call you are about to get, Skye.”

Skye watched as Jemma quickly signed off of Skype before she turned to face a sympathetic Kara.

“I have a feeling as soon as she gets through fussing at Jemma; she will be calling you,” she said quietly. “I know that you think of her like a mother but you have to live your life for yourself, not anybody else.”

“I know that but Grant hurt a lot of people with his betrayal. I have started to let go of the anger and hurt I felt but the other four people that he hurt the most haven’t yet.”

“That is why he shouldn’t have been in Shield’s custody because all of you let that pain and anger do your thinking. I am pretty sure that things were done to him that none of you would have ever thought of doing to other prisoners.”

Skye felt guilt fill her at Kara’s words. She hadn’t done anything to Ward personally except harsh words and helping Coulson deceive Ward in regards to Christian but she knew about May’s ‘interrogations’. Coulson had to have known that letting May interrogate him wasn’t right but they all gave into the worst parts of themselves instead. They were all damn lucky that Grant wasn’t filing charges of prisoner abuse.

“It’s a wonder he doesn’t hate me for how I let them treat him and felt so damn self-righteous because he was paying for what he did. Then to make matters worse, I shoot him and call him my enemy when he could have left me bound to that chair and risk Hydra finding me instead of Coulson.”

“I don’t think he truly hated you even through the worst of his anger over you shooting him. You made your point and he was ready to let you go. In fact, he had almost succeeded. He will be angry at me for telling you this but before he came here to say goodbye to his grandmother, there was someone he was seeing. She knew all about his past and didn’t care. She was falling for the person she knew and not the things he had done, until she found about you and ended things between them the night before he left.”

“Why?”

“It seems he called her you that night when they were in bed together and trust me; he didn’t confuse her for you because Susan was a tiny, five foot tall, blue eyed blond. She wasn’t his usual type at all.”

“So he still loved me even when he tried moving on?”

“Yes he did.”

“Susan didn’t deserve what I put her through,” Grant commented quietly from the door. “I loved her but she wasn’t you.”

Kara wordlessly left the room, giving her friend a comforting touch on his shoulder as she went. Grant walked over and sat down beside Skye on the bed, reaching up to wipe a tear that was falling unchecked down her with his thumb.

“I only did that to keep you, Fitz and Simmons out of trouble because getting revenge on all of you would only keep the circle going. It needs to stop,” he explained gently.

“I agree. Why do you let me sleep beside you at night when I know that you haven’t completely forgiven me for shooting you?”

“You are not the only one that has nightmares over everything that has happened. Having you there keeps the demons at bay.”

Skye’s cellphone rang before she could respond and she groaned in irritation at the sight of Melinda’s picture on her screen. She dreaded the coming confrontation and knew that there were going to be harsh words exchanged between her and the woman she loved like a mother.

“I have to take this or she will keep calling.”

“I need to go back to helping Michael; one of the fences to the pasture close to the back wall needs repairing so we will be back there most of the day.”

“Ok.”

He stood up and left the room while Skye answered her still ringing phone and before she could answer May’s voice came through the phone.

“Skye, the day you start a relationship with Grant Ward will be over my dead body.”

“May, he is the only reason that all of us aren’t being arrested right now for the conditions we kept him in. He told his father not to do anything to any of us. He wants to just finish his sentence, raise his son and move on. After seeing for myself how his mother treated him, no wonder he was vulnerable to Garrett. The man kidnapped him, May and abandoned him alone in the woods for five years with only a dog for companionship. He fucking isolated him from everybody while messing with his mind in the process. Then the son of a bitch killed the dog when he took him to the Academy.”

At May’s silence, Skye came to a stunning realization and it made her sick.

“Did you already know all of this?”

“Skye, Coulson and I had heard the rumors but had no way of knowing if it was true or not. Ward had told us so many lies that we weren’t sure if it was another one of his games.”

Skye hung up the phone with tears in her eyes before leaving the cabin to find Kyle walking up to the cabin. The boy took one look at her, felt the ground slightly tremble around them and gave her a hug. It seemed to make her feel better and the mild shaking stopped.

“Aunt Lily told me that I should ask you if you wanted to go into town to the store with me. She said you needed to get away from here for a few hours,” he said, pulling away from Skye to stand beside her. “She said we could take the Lexus.”

Skye smiled at the sweetness of the teenage boy in front of her. His Aunt, despite how harshly she had left him, had done something right in raising him.

“Sure. We need to call your dad and let him know where we are going.”

Kyle pulled the cellphone that Lily had bought for him out of his pocket and called Grant. He had a brief conversation with his father before hanging up.

“He said that we should be careful and that you needed to take a gun with you just in case Hydra has figured out where he is. He also said for you to remember what you have learned from both him and Agent May about being aware of everything around you.”

Skye rolled her eyes because it sounded like something he would say before they walked back up the main house and the garage. They stepped in and walked over to the candy apple red Lexus ES 350 that was sitting there along with three other vehicles that were kept there. It wasn’t long before they had drove out of the garage, out of the main gate and were on Highway 52, taking the fifteen mile drive to the Wal-Mart in Mount Airy.

* * *

A half an hour later, they were walking around the store, looking at the video games in their locked displays.

“Are you thinking about getting some more games to play with your dad?”

“I was just getting an idea of what they had and there are a few good ones coming out this summer,” he said.

“Was it your Aunt that taught you to be respectful of other people?”

“Yes. She was more like my mother than my own even when she was still alive. As much as I want to be mad at her for leaving me without saying goodbye, a part of me knows that she did it for me. She thinks that my father’s family and their money can help me more than she can right now. What she doesn’t understand is that I don’t care about the money; I was happy living with her and would have loved living with her in London.”

“I can understand that. I was sent from one foster home to another and I felt like nobody wanted me. Now I have a man that has been a father figure to me that I love and a biological father that I know loves me but he scares the hell out of me.”

“Dr. Cal really does love you and besides you can have them both in your life. Just as you can have Aunt Lily, who I can see you have to come care about like another mother, and agent May. You don’t have to choose. It is your life, not theirs.”

“I think you are exactly what all of us need right now,” Skye smiled at the boy.

The two of them left the video game section a few minutes later and that is when Skye noticed that they were being followed by two men. She figured out right away that they were Hydra.

“Kyle, text your dad and Aunt Lily to let them know that we are being followed,” she whispered to the boy.

Skye and Kyle made it outside and to the car when all hell broke loose. The two men that were in the store and four others started to surround them. She pulled out the gun that Ward had told her to bring and shot one of them in the chest when he tried to grab Kyle. She had just about gotten the six of them out of their way when she saw red dot appear on Kyle’s chest.

Without any hesitation, Skye turned and grabbed Kyle to push him out of the way when a searing pain took over her body. She knew from experience after what Ian Quinn had done to her in Malta that she had been shot once again.

The earth started to shake and tremble as the pain washed over her and the Hydra agents, along with the other innocent people shopping started to run in terror.

Kyle picked her up and put her in the passenger seat of the car after she had passed out and the shaking had stopped. He took the car keys and drove out of the parking lot and back towards the farm. He had only driven a few times with his Aunt after he turned sixteen and on the golf carts with Elena this past week so he was nervous.

As soon as he saw the main gate, it opened and the car rushed up the driveway as Grant, Lily and other members of the family waited outside. When Kyle opened the door, he screamed for his dad.

“Dad, Skye took two bullets to the back protecting me, she needs help!”

Grant rushed over and pulled Skye out of the car, not paying attention to her blood covering his clothes. He followed a frantic Cal into the house and put her on the kitchen table.

Adele shoved Grant out of the room and went back to help Cal and Tommy, who was a surgeon. The latter was on his cell phone, talking frantically to 911 getting a medivac sent to the farm to transport Skye to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the hospital where he worked as a surgical resident.

“I won’t lose you again, Daisy!”

“I’ve got this, Cal. You are too emotionally involved. I promise you that I will take care of her,” Tommy gently but firmly stated to the other man.

Tommy watched as he left the room before continuing to do everything he could to keep Skye alive. He turned to face Adele, who was putting pressure on the wounds.

“If she dies, Cal and Grant will both lose it.”

“I know, Mr. Tommy. All we can do is pray and hope that the medivac gets here and to the hospital in time to save her.”

* * *

Grant was in the barn, punching the bag as hard and fast as he could. The last time he was like this was when he touched the berserker staff. All he could see was Skye covered in blood both of the times that she had been shot.

“Dad, are you mad at me for Skye being shot instead of me?”

Kyle had tears in his eyes as he stood in the doorway of the barn. His son looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and blaming himself for what had happened.

“No,” Grant said, walking away from the punching bag and over to his son, hugging the boy to him.

“This was Hydra fault and when I catch them, they are going to pay for this."

Grant held a now sobbing Kyle and tried to comfort his son while fighting an internal battle of fear and fierce anger at the organization that had done nothing but ruin his life. If it weren’t for the fact he would be breaking his house arrest, he would leave the farm and hunt Hydra down personally.


	11. Deja Vu

Phil Coulson was sitting at his desk, going over paperwork and ignoring a raging Melinda May. She had burst into his office thirty minutes ago complaining over the fact that Skye had hung up on her and hadn’t stopped since. The normally calm and collected agent was emotionally upset and blaming Grant Ward for everything.

“I can’t believe she has fallen for his lies, Phil. I don’t care if she is a grown woman; we have to get her away from that damn family.”

“Melinda, you know that what he told her isn’t lies. Lily Ward has confirmed his story and showed me the paperwork from where she filed a missing person report. She has made her choice and no matter how much we hate it, we have to accept it.”

Before Melinda could respond, the phone rang on Coulson’s desk and he picked it up.

“Hello.”

“Phil, you need to get to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center as quick as possible.”

His heart filled with dread at Lily’s words and he sat up quickly, gripping the phone tightly.

“What happened?”

“Skye took Kyle shopping and Hydra attacked them in an effort to get their hands on Kyle. She was shot twice in the back after pushing Kyle out of the path of a sniper.”

“I knew she should have stayed the hell away from you! Once she recovers, I don’t care what she says; I am bringing her back here.”

“Phil, don’t start. Blame Hydra for this and no one else. Oh and if you and Cal start another fight, I will finish it.”

“Why is that psycho there?”

“That psycho is her father and if he wasn’t here, she wouldn’t be having surgery right now. He had to sign the consent forms for them to treat her.”

“I better not see Ward there or I will kill him.”

“He is back at the farm; you know he is under house arrest. But if the judge allows him to come here, you will not touch him and tell Agent May that she is to be on her best behavior. She will not attack Grant, Cal or even Kyle. He saved her life. If he hadn’t of drove the car back to the house, Tommy wouldn’t have been able to keep her alive long enough to get her to the hospital.”

Phil angrily hung up the phone, feeling helpless and dreading the conversation that he was about to have with Melinda.

* * *

Lily hung up her cellphone and groaned in irritation, wishing she could have avoided dealing with Phil Coulson. The only reason she had was because the man loved Skye like a daughter and she would want him there.

“He gave you hell over her being hurt, didn’t he?”

Cal sat down beside her in the waiting room, putting some space between them. She could feel his own worry and anger over what had happened to Skye and hoped that she really didn’t have to stop a fight between him and Coulson.

“Yes and said that he was taking her back to Shield once she recovers, whether she wanted to go or not.”

“Over my dead body,” Cal hotly stated.

“I’m going to put security guards at her door. I will also call someone that can take on Agent May if it comes down to it.”

“From what Kara told me about her, it would probably take Captain America himself to stop her.”

Lily smiled at that comment before grabbing her cellphone, standing up and walking down the hallway. Cal had a point, to stop what was left of Shield from coming in and trying to take over she would have to show them that they weren’t going to intimidate her.

* * *

A few hours later, Grant and Kyle stepped out of the car in front of the hospital entrance and were walking towards the entrance when May, Coulson and the rest of the team got out the SUV. The former went over to try and punch Grant when her arm was gently grabbed and she turned to face a frowning Steve Rogers.

“Not on my watch, Melinda.”

“She called in you to guard Skye?”

“Me and Natasha,” Steve responded to Coulson’s question. “I would be careful around her if I was you, Phil. She wasn’t very happy to hear that you were alive and that nobody had told her.”

“Why would Aunt Lily call in Captain America and Black Widow?”

Steve turned to face a stunned Kyle and went over to shake the teenage boy’s hand. He simply nodded at Ward, knowing about his betrayal to Shield but he also had been told of the circumstances behind it. He was staying neutral and doing a favor for one of the people who had helped him when he was first thawed out. That was the only reason he was getting into the middle of battle between what remained of Shield and Grant Ward.

“She knew that certain people would act like adults around me and Natasha instead of acting like they can do whatever they please. From the way I understand it, Agent Skye’s doctors and father are making the medical decisions on her care until she wakes up and after that, what happens is her choice, nobody else.”

Everybody quietly went up in several elevators that were right inside the entrance to the fifth floor of Janeway Tower, one of the several towers in the still growing medical center. Ward got lucky and was in an elevator with Kyle and Steve Rogers and came out to find the rest of his family in a private waiting room.

“The judge said that you could come here and stay in a hotel until she is out of the hospital. After she is released, you have to go back to the farm. You are restricted to here and the Marriott where Aunt Lily has rented out the top floor,” Christian quietly explained as the elevator door opened for May, Coulson, Simmons and Fitz, who all went into the waiting room as well.

“We are here if any of them decides to show out to back you up.”

“I can’t believe Aunt Lily went there with Captain Rogers and Black Widow,” Grant said, watching as May glared at his aunt, who grinned devilishly at her.

“I told you that I have my ways and not to play with me. I don’t have to always use my magic to get things done. I am nothing like you have ever dealt with. I am not in awe of ‘The Calvary’ and I never will be.”

Before Melinda could respond, a tall woman in her early forties and wearing surgical scrubs stepped into the waiting room.

“Are all of you here for Daisy Johnson?”

“I’m her father and everybody else is her family and friends,” Cal stated, stepping forward.

“I’m Dr. Kristen Winfield and I was the surgeon who operated on Skye. Luckily the sniper who shot her didn’t know what they were doing. The bullets missed her spinal cord and every vital organ. The reason she bled so much was one of the bullets nicked her subclavian artery but not enough for her to bleed out before pressure was put on the wounds until she could get to the hospital.”

“When can she be transported?"

As Cal and Grant started to respond to Coulson the surgeon in front of them turned feisty.

“As long as she is my patient, Skye will not be moved until I say so and that won’t happen until she is awake and stable. I have been informed by Dr. Ward and Ms. Romanoff about the situation with my patient and I am stating this now. Skye is the one I will listen to when it comes to her care and where she goes when she is released, nobody else,” she fiercely stated before looking around the room. “She is in recovery and woke up briefly asking for someone named Grant. She should be in ICU in about ten minutes and I will allow him to see her and after that I will only allow two visitors at a time.”

Dr. Winfield stepped out of the room and that is when all hell broke loose.

“Like hell do you get to go in there and see her before everybody else? This is your damn fault,” May stated, glaring at Grant.

“Hydra would have been after Skye even if she hadn’t of been with Kyle, they knew she was gifted and about who her mother was,” Cal said. “I also suggest you cut it out because given the looks that Grant’s family is giving you, his days of being your punching bag are over.”

“It is only because of my son that you and Director Coulson aren’t sitting in jail right now for abusing your prisoners. He has decided not to file charges and wants to move on with his life,” Travis stated.

“That is why I wanted Shield exposed right along with Hydra,” Steve Rogers commented. “The old way of doing things has to stop, Phil. That is how Hydra was able to infiltrate Shield the last time.”

Steve walked out of the waiting room and past a frowning Natasha Romanoff, who motioned to Grant. The former specialist stepped outside and accepted the inevitable punch to the jaw he had been expecting.

“That is for the eye candy comment you made to Maria.”

“I deserved that but then again, you know that Hill and I have never liked each other,” he commented, rubbing his jaw and hoping it wouldn’t bruise too badly. Skye would freak out and that was the last thing she needed to do right now.

“Your aunt told us about the child abuse and being kidnapped after your own mother literally sold you to John Garrett. She also said you needed someone to get the money back to your family or you would have to wait to get it when your house arrest is over. I might have a solution.”

“I’m listening.” Grant quietly listened to her solution while waiting for Skye to be placed in the ICU.

* * *

All Skye could feel as she came out of the blackness she had fallen into was pain, agonizing pain. It centered in her back and radiated throughout her entire body. She could feel a hand holding hers and while it took everything inside of her to glance over, Skye could see Grant sitting in the chair, watching her silently.

“Hi,” she said, weakly. “How’s Kyle?”

“He’s fine. He drove the two of you back to the farm and Tommy kept you alive until we could get you to the hospital. Luckily, Cal was here to sign the consent forms or they wouldn’t have treated you.”

“Where am I?” “Wake Forest Medical Center in Winston-Salem; Tommy works here and assisted in your surgery,” he said, hesitating before speaking again and Skye picked up on it instantly.

“What’s wrong?” “Lily called Coulson and she had to get Captain America and Black Widow to watch over you to keep them from taking you out of the hospital.”

Skye rolled her eyes and knew that her surrogate father and mother were going to raise hell at her. She didn’t want to deal with it right now.

“I want to see them but tell them that they aren’t to talk about me leaving this hospital with them. It’s not happening. I am going back to the farm with you and Kyle.”

“Skye…”

“No. No more of this waiting to get our lives together. I almost died again and I want to see where this goes with us if you do. I want to help you take care of Kyle. I might not be old enough to be his mom but I love him like he is mine. I want us to be a family.”

He kissed her gently and laid his forehead against hers, caressing the side of her face.

“I want this, too. When I saw you covered in blood, it was like being in that basement in Malta all over again. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” They shared another sweet and tender kiss before he stood up and started to walk over to the door.

“I want to see Kyle and my father before sending Coulson and May in here and then Fitz and Simmons before I see anybody else. Oh and tell Captain Rogers and Black Widow to stay because I would really love to meet them,” Skye said, her inner fangirl coming out.

Grant grinned before leaving the room as Skye smiled before closing her eyes to rest for a few minutes.


	12. Lily's Power

A couple of days later, Kyle rolled his eyes at Simmons as she excitedly took in her surroundings. The two of them along with Fitz, Mack, Bobbi, Lance and Elena had gone to the popular Winston-Salem tourist attraction, Old Salem.

It was a restored Moravian village that had been founded in the fourteen hundreds and the biochemist, along with Fitz had wanted to go.

The seven of them were walking in the main chapel of Home Moravian church where an old friend of Lily’s worked. Tours weren’t normally allowed inside of the church but when you were the grandson of a former Senator and the nephew of a current one, allowances were made.

“I know my Aunt asked the all of you to distract me but I am sixteen, not six,” the teenager looked at the six foot four mechanic with irritation.  “This is ridiculous.” “

Look kid, I agree with you but while Hydra wants you as a way to get back at your dad, you are stuck with bodyguards. Everybody is already angry about Skye being hurt but all hell will break loose if anything happens to you,” Mack explained to the almost six foot tall teenager.

“Besides they could have sent you with Captain Rogers and Black Widow.”

Kyle shuddered at that implication because while it had been cool to meet the two Avengers, he knew that any anonymity would be gone at their presence.

He then saw the old piano standing along the wall and his heart stopped at the sight of it. He wouldn’t be allowed to play it but he could admire the craftsman ship and the beauty of the old instrument.

“I don’t think they will allow you to play that, Kyle,” Elena commented as she walked up beside him. “That thing is an antique.”

“I know. That is what makes it so awesome. Someone bought that piano when it was first built and sat down in front of it, anticipating what they would play first. Now it is sitting here in this church for its members and others to enjoy it.”

Elena stared awestruck at Kyle before wrapping her arm around his and leading him over to another part of the church.

“I hope Ward knows what a pleasure that boy is to be around,” Simmons commented to Bobbi quietly.

“Jemma, this is the grace period. Sweet and innocent Kyle and Elena are about to give his father and her mother some grey hair because when two teenagers look at each other like that, all hell is about to break loose,” Bobbi stated smiling at Lance, who was smirking as he watched the two teenagers talking to each other and ignoring everybody else.

* * *

At the same time over at the hospital, Skye has been placed in a regular room and she was quietly talking to Lily. They both looked over at Grant, who was lying on a cot sleeping with a thin blanket tossed over him.

“He hasn’t left this hospital since he got here. If Kyle had of been with anybody but members of Shield, I would have sent Grant with him.”

“Not a chance,” Grant responded to his Aunt, his eyes still closed. “I’m not leaving this hospital until Skye is released.”

He had taken it upon himself to stay with Skye at all times, knowing that his skills as a specialist would come in handy.

“Some people would say that you are being a stalker again,” May commented harshly from the doorway.

“Some people need to mind their own business,” Skye stated to her.

She still wasn’t happy with her surrogate mother. Now that she realized just how bad her own hypocrisy had been, seeing it in others pissed her off.

“Let’s go get a cup of coffee, Agent May,” Lily said, getting up and walking towards the other woman.

She closed the door behind her, shutting both her and the other woman out in the hallway.

“You have to back off, Melinda. She loves you like a mother but her disappointment in you is doing the thinking for her. If you keep up the attitude, you will lose her and I know for a fact that is the last thing you or Skye want. She has chosen to be with Grant and even though I think it is too soon, nobody is going to change her mind. She wants to be a family with him and Kyle.”

“Would she still feel that way if Ward had never found out about Kyle?”

“Yes. Her feelings for Grant have nothing to do with hers for his son. In all fairness, you can blame Hydra for this. If they hadn’t tried to kidnap Kyle, the two of them would probably still be fighting their feelings for each other,” Lily then grinned mischievously. “There is a silver lining to all of this.”

“What does that mean?”

“Kyle is slowly but surely realizing that he doesn’t have to be on his best behavior all of the time, that he won’t be abandoned again. Skye has decided she wants to help raise him so just imagine how much he will drive both her and Grant crazy with some of the stuff he does to test their limits. I am picturing him and Elena giving Grant and Adele both a fit if they ever start to date.”

A small smile comes over Agent May’s face as she thinks about it before both women started to hysterically laugh. They were both wiping tears from their eyes as Coulson and Cal both came walking up to the women from opposite directions.

“What’s going on?”

Melinda explained to the two men why she and Lily were laughing and Phil realized that Lily had a point. He knew that Skye was stubborn as hell and that she would push him away just like she was Melinda but accepting Ward back into her life grated at him.

“Coulson, the same advice I just gave Melinda goes for you too.”

“He kidnapped her twice, Lily.” “And she made him pay for it both times.”

“And you people call me crazy,” Cal said, walking into Skye’s room only to come rushing back out. “That isn’t what I wanted to see when I went in to check on my daughter.”

Coulson, May and Lily walked into the doorway and found Ward lying beside Skye in her bed and the two of them lost in a passionate kiss. All three of them rolled their eyes before Lily stepped into the room.

“The last thing Skye needs is one of her doctors coming in here because her heart monitor is going crazy.”

Grant and Skye grinned at Lily, not the least bit embarrassed for being caught kissing. He stood up and kissed her on the lips.

“I’ll be back. I have to talk to Romanoff and Captain Rogers about her plan for getting my family’s money back to them.”

He left the room and Skye found herself being stared at by her father and the other three adults in the room.

“He is getting help from Romanoff about getting the money out of Garrett’s accounts?” Skye nodded her head in response to Coulson’s question.

She grinned at the look of dread that came into his eyes.

“The two of them had the highest scores in Shield. Let’s hope they don’t cause an international incident.”

“That is why Captain Rogers is helping them, to keep them out of trouble.”

“He might be the only one who can but I have my doubts. Steve Rogers has a penchant for doing things against orders too. Going after Bucky Barnes when he was captured during the war comes to mind,” Lily commented.

“At least Grant will be back on the farm here in a few days when they let Skye out of the hospital.”

* * *

Kyle came into Skye’s room a few hours later, holding a tin in his hands before groaning at the sight of his dad and Skye cuddling and sharing tender kisses that would make a person's teeth rot.

“Is this what I am going to see every day once Skye is released from the hospital?”

“Yes, get over it,” Grant snarked back at him before smiling at the boy. “Did Simmons and Fitz drive the rest of you crazy?”

“Yes. She bounced all around the whole village; excited for everything, especially when we got to watch them prepare and bake a batch of Moravian cookies in that old fashioned oven at the Bakery. I brought something back that I thought Skye would like.”

Kyle handed her the decorative tin and watched as she opened it and squealed like a little girl at the sight of chocolate and peanut butter fudge.

“You better enjoy that because once the doctor says you can, it is back to your training,” Grant commented, smiling at the delight she took in eating a piece of the candy.

“I plan on it. I think the two of us and Kara need to double our efforts to make sure that Kyle can take care of himself. I also think that we need to talk to Adele about teaching Elena.” “

I agree. In fact, I might see if we can train Adele too. Aunt Lily wants everybody that works for her to be trained too,” he stated. “She is already putting new hiring practices into place to keep Hydra from sending anybody undercover to get close to us.”

Kyle smiled as he watched his father and Skye make plans to protect everybody on the farm and was glad that they had finally made the decision to be together. It was driving everybody else crazy. He knew that Aunt Lily, Mr. Cal and the members of Shield, especially the four his dad had betrayed, had their reasons for not wanting them to be together.

* * *

The three of them were caught up in each other that they were unaware of the fact that Fitz was watching with anger growing in his eyes. He felt betrayed by Skye for giving Ward another chance after what he had done to him. It was only Kyle that kept Fitz from going in there and confronting her, the boy didn’t deserve to hear every horrible thing his father had done.

“Grant has already told Kyle everything, Fitz,” Lily said quietly from where she was standing beside him. “You have every right to be angry at Grant. What he did to you and Agent Simmons was stupid and dangerous. In his effort to give you a chance to survive, he still hurt you in the process”

Lily touched him on the arm and an electric shock went through both Lily and Fitz that made the older woman scream as they both fell to the floor. It was one of agony that brought Grant running out of Skye’s room. The sight of his aunt and Fitz lying on the ground terrified him.

“Kyle, push the button for the nurse.”

Fitz sat up, holding his head as Lily laid there on the floor, not moving and pale as a sheet. Grant fought the urge to touch his former friend on the shoulder.

“Fitz, what happened?”

“She touched me and the next thing I knew an electric shock went through the both of us. Lily was screaming and we both fell to the floor. Is she okay?”

“I don’t know, Fitz,” Grant stated before looking at Fitz in shock. “You aren’t stuttering and your hand is better. I think I know what happened. Her power healed you but at what cost to her.”

Both men watched as the doctors and nurses rushed towards Lily as the other members of the Ward family, Cal and the other members of Shield watched in horror.

“I didn’t want this to happen like this, Ward. She has to be okay,” Fitz whispered in fear as he threw his arms around the man that had betrayed him. Ward hugged him back, ignoring the gasps of shock coming from the others around him. They didn’t know what was going on here but it had to have been big for Fitz to hug Ward like that.


	13. Revelations And Heartbreak

A few hours later, Travis sat in a chair at his sister’s bedside watching her sleep. He was holding her hand and memories of holding her on the day she was born went through his mind. He had been nineteen when his parents had told him that they were having another baby and his reaction had been less than favorable. That is, until he held that tiny baby in his arms and she had him wrapped around her finger.

Of course, when he had sat back and allowed Milly to abuse his older three children, it had taken a lot of the hero worship out of his baby sister’s eyes. Everything with Grant only made it worse. Lily had been furious with him for years. They had only recently started to heal the damage that had been done after the death of their mother and finding out that Milly had sold Grant to John Garrett.

“How is she doing, Mr. Ward?”

Travis turned to see Leo Fitz standing there, unable to take his eyes off of Lily.

“She will be okay, Fitz. Whatever happened took a lot out of her and she needs to rest. How are you, doing?”

Jemma and Tommy had both taken Fitz down to the Emergency Room where tests had been run on his brain and hand. When he had come back with a clean bill of health and it appeared as if there hadn’t been any brain damage was when Louise realized what had happened.

“How about we go and see what Louise has to say about what happened maybe that will ease your mind, son?”

Travis led the quiet young scientist down the hall to one of the conference rooms. Everybody wanted to know what had happened and that was the only place big enough to fit a group of people.

* * *

Louise sat at the head of the table, watching as the rest of her family and the Shield team start to come into the room. She smiled as Grant pushed Skye, sitting in a wheel chair into the room and placing her beside Louise while he sat down in the chair beside her.

There had been a ten minute argument where for once the people who cared about Skye actually agreed on something. They thought she should stay in her hospital bed and let them tell her what happens. It seems Skye won.

Nerves filled Louise as she thought about what she was about to say. She had never been as comfortable with her magic the way her aunt had been. They had developed their powers within two years of each other because of the same age difference between them. Lily had been more like her sister than an aunt, the same thing with Christian who was five year younger than Louise. It was only with Grant and Tommy that Lily was able to be an actual Aunt to them and take care of them, well as much as that rabid bitch that was her mother would let them.

She ran her fingers through her thick dark hair and felt a comforting hand on hers. Louise smiled over at her little brother and despite the fact he was now thirty two and a father, all she saw in her mind was the adorable infant she had first held at ten years old.

Grant had been her little shadow for three years until that damn mother of hers had sent her to boarding school, right around the same time that her powers kicked in. The laughing and happy child she had left that August was gone by the time the holidays came around. Her sweet little shadow had now had them in his eyes from the tortures his mother had started to put him through.

Before Louise could start the meeting, the sight of Fitz sitting between Grant and Mack made her wonder what was going on? She noticed Jemma Simmons glaring at Grant and knew that the death threat that the younger woman had said to Grant was going to have to be addressed.

It was time that certain people at Shield knew that Lily wasn’t the only one who would now fight for her brother. The conditions of the cell they had put her brother in, after seeing it in her father’s head, pissed Louise off and she would now fight for Grant in a way that she couldn’t when she was younger. The only thing keeping her from going after Skye was the fact that her brother was the happiest he had ever been at being with her, the love she had for Kyle and the fact that Louise could sense the remorse Skye felt for her part in everything.

“I think everybody knows why we are here,” she started to speak as every conversation in the room stopped. “What happened to Lily and Fitz when she touched his shoulder was called the ‘healing touch’. It can’t be controlled and when it happens it is because the powers that be have decided that the person in need of it was pure of heart. The only consequence is the effect it has on the witch that was used to deliver the ‘gift’ to the one deemed worthy. It will significantly drain her magical core to the point she needs to rest long enough for the core to recover. It takes a lot of the witches power and energy for it to work.”

Louise turned to face a guilt-ridden Fitz and reached over to hold his hand.

“This isn’t your fault and she will be okay in a week. You have been given everything back that was taken from you because of the actions of others. Someone up there thinks that your gifts are needed in the war that is coming. Something is coming that Hydra will want badly and Shield will do anything to protect it.”

“Do you have any idea what it is?” Louise looked over at Coulson and tried to find the right way to say it without giving away what it was. The only person besides Louise that knew was unconscious and that was the way it needed to be for a while.

“No. It is just a vision of a battle over whatever this is and lives being lost on both sides of the battle.”

Everybody got up and left the room, well except for Cal who walked over to Louise, a knowing look on his face.

“It’s a baby. My Daisy is meant to be the mother of the baby girl that will carry on your family’s ‘gift’. So with Daisy’s power and given how powerful you and your aunt are, that baby will be what Hydra wants and because she is Daisy’ child, Shield will protect the baby with everything inside of them.”

Louise made sure that no one had heard what Cal had said and nodded her head in acknowledgment of his words.

“I know that Skye has to recover from being shot but now that they aren’t fighting their feelings for each other, the visions have gotten stronger. All of us that love Skye and Grant are needed to protect that baby and Mr. Fitz is going to play a big part in that. That is why he was given everything he lost back to him.”

Cal and Louise walked out of the room and went towards Lily’s hospital room unaware of a sixteen year old boy listening to every word. His eyes were filled with anger and a resolve beyond his years.

‘It is time to have a conversation with Aunt Lisa and find out if this is why I had to be with my father’s family.’

Kyle walked down the hall and pulled out his cellphone, waiting for his aunt to answer.

“Tell me the truth, Aunt Lisa. You are a witch like my Aunts Lily and Louise, aren’t you?”

Kyle listened to his aunt’s words and a rage built inside of him at the lies the one person he had trusted in his life as he finally was told the truth. He then walked down the hall to where his father was having a conversation with Skye as he helped her back into her bed.

“I need to tell you something, Dad.”

“What’s wrong, Kyle?” Kyle could hear the concern in Skye’s voice and looked at the both of them, worry in his eyes that they would reject him.

“Aunt Lisa is a witch and she left me with you for a reason that wasn’t the one she told everybody.”

“What the hell!”

“It seems that my mother’s family is related to the witch that put the curse on the Ward’s. Their goal was to send me here to learn how to fight from you to help in the battle that is to come and to protect my baby sister when she is born.”

Skye and Grant exchange a look where it is obvious they know exactly what is happening before the former started to speak.

“That is why when Lily told us that you were meant to be the father of the next generation witch, the thought of anybody but me having that baby pissed me off. I was still mad as hell at you but wanted to rip the hair out of any other woman that dared to have your child.”

“The question is do we tell Lily and Louise that we know what their secret is,” Grant inquired.

“We will when Lily wakes up because you can’t keep a secret from her and making sure she recovers is the most important thing. Now we know why Fitz was granted that gift but what will it cost him to be healed the way he was.”

Grant and Kyle went silent at Skye’s words and they each knew deep down what that cost could be.

* * *

Fitz and Mack were walking down the hall towards Skye’s room when he was stopped by a furious Jemma Simmons.

“What the hell are you doing, Fitz? Did you forget that Ward tried to kill us?”

“Jemma, you don’t understand what happened to me when Lily touched my shoulder. I could see into her head and everything that she knew, I knew. We have to bloody let go of the anger we have towards Ward because Skye loves him and they are going to need all of us for what is coming. I was given a gift.”

“I won’t do it. I told that wanker I would kill him and when I get the chance, I plan to.”

“Jemma, do you really want to cross Louise Ward? She is as powerful as her aunt is and while Lily is unconscious, she is now her family’s protector and she knows what you are planning.”

“I don’t care.”

Jemma turned around and walked away from Fitz, angry tears falling down her cheeks.

“Turbo, she is really going to get hurt if she keeps up her grudge against Ward.”

“Louise won’t hurt her; she just won’t let her touch her brother.”

“I wonder if Lily Ward is going to be different after she wakes up because you are starting to freak me out.”

“I am freaking out too, Mack. I’m afraid that my time with Shield is coming to an end because of my changed opinion about Ward and what happened.”

“If you have to leave, I will follow you because you need someone to watch your back.”

“I think my place is at the Ward farm and helping Lily.”

Mack watched Fitz and worried about his friend. Whatever happened when he was healed had not only fixed the damage that had been done but also changed Fitz. Whether it was for a good or bad reason remained to be seen.


	14. Kindred Spirits

Jemma wiped tears from her eyes as she stood watching the traffic go down Business 40 from the top of the hospital’s parking deck. The wind blew through her shoulder length dirty blond hair and a light drizzle fell but her thoughts were on her argument with Fitz and not how wet she was starting to get.

“You might need this,” a baritone voice carried over to her as an umbrella appeared over her head.

Jemma turned to see Thomas Ward standing there, looking enough like his brother to make her wish he would go away. She really didn’t want to deal with that family for right now; they seemed to be taking Skye and now Fitz away from her.

“I can’t get away from the Ward family no matter where I bloody go.”

“I saw your argument with Fitz and while I will protect my brother, what he did to you and Fitz was wrong. He could have found a way to keep the two of you safe without dropping you out of that plane but given what I have learned about John Garrett that sack of crap would have had all three of you killed if Grant didn’t do something quick. It sounds like Grant was stuck between a rock and a hard place; damned if he did, damned if he didn’t,” he said compassionately. “I have been where you and Fitz were too and Grant was stuck in the same position then as he was with the two of you.”

“Are you talking about the well?”

“Yes. The only thing that saved my life and kept Grant from the same fate was the fact that Aunt Lily and Louise showed up. Lily took care of Christian and made him pay for it while Grant and Lou pulled me out of the well. Of course, my mother blamed Grant for everything so it wouldn’t get out that her oldest son tried to murder her youngest son. He was her punching bag and the cycle continued with John Garrett and the six months he was imprisoned by Shield. I get that you are pissed off at what happened last year and that Fitz was hurt but it is time to get over it. Louise might not be as powerful as Aunt Lily but she is a very powerful witch and she is watching you like a hawk, Jemma. I don’t want to see anybody else hurt over this so please let this go.”

Thomas turned around and walked away, leaving the umbrella with Jemma. She watched him go and wished that she could just let it go but her anger over what had happened to the family they had become on the bus wouldn’t ease. Deep down she knew the blame for this lay at the feet of John Garrett but he wasn’t there and Ward was.

* * *

Fitz stood there watching Skye and Ward sleep in the bed and pull out recliner and his mind reeled from every horrible memory that Lily had witnessed as a teenager. His former friend really hadn’t stood a chance with that mother of his. The day Grant was taken from the juvenile facility played over and over in his head especially Lily’s desperation to find her nephew and sorrow over the years at him never being found. He then walked out of the room and ran into Coulson, who looked concerned for his agent.

“Fitz, are you okay?”

“No. When Lily touched my shoulder, it was like we each saw every secret the other person had. I know the truth about what happened with Ward and his family and that deal you made with the Senator was so bloody wrong, sir,” Fitz stated. “I need to leave Shield, Director. My place is at the Ward family farm to help Lily.”

“I know that there is something Lily and Louise are hiding and I have a feeling you know what it is.”

“Sir, if I could tell you I would. I know you don’t want to hear this but it is time to let go of the anger we have towards Ward. I saw the abuse Ward suffered from Lily’s point of view and what that mother of his did to her older three children was disgusting. Skye did the world a favor. He didn’t stand a chance once John Garrett kidnapped him and started to work on his mind,” Fitz quietly stated. “We need to keep an eye on Jemma, she is still planning on going after Ward and you and I both know exactly what his aunt and sister’s powers are capable of. She won’t win.”

“I will have Agent Morse watch her, they are pretty close.” Coulson said before he  peeked into the room and saw that Skye was asleep.

He watched her for a moment and groaned in irritation at Ward sleeping in the room with her before turning and walking down the corridor. Fitz followed him and nodded at Thomas as he walked down the hall. The latter stopped outside of Skye’s room and sat down in the chair that the security guard had left behind. He pulled out his tablet and started to work his charts while making sure that nobody came to Skye’s room that wasn’t supposed to be there.

* * *

Jemma walked into the door of the hotel suite that she was sharing with Bobbi and Lance and stopped short at the sight of Kyle and Elena making out on the couch. The teenagers quickly pulled apart at the sight of the biochemist standing there, a look on her face that scared them a bit.

“I may not like your father but he is too young to be a grandfather and after meeting your mother, Elena, I know she would have grounded you if she had seen this,” Jemma stated with her hands on her hips. “Elena, you need to go back to your room while Kyle and I are going to have a talk.”

Elena practically ran from the room while Kyle groaned in irritation and sat down on the couch with his head in his hands.

“Dr. Simmons, can you spare me the lecture? We weren’t going to do anything, we were just kissing.”

“Kyle, sometimes a person might not intend on having sex with the person they are with and it still happens.”

“Why don’t you like my dad?”

Jemma was stunned at the quick change of subject and didn’t know how to respond to the teenager, who had his hand on his hips and looked too much like a younger version of Ward that she was comfortable with.

“Did he tell you about what happened last year?”

“Yes. He told me all about Hydra, his former mentor who took money from my grandmother to basically kidnap him and everything he did to all of you for that asshole.”

“So you can understand why I hate him.”

“I understand why but I think most of your anger is about what happened to Fitz,” Kyle commented before turning to walk out of the room. “For someone who doesn’t have romantic feelings for someone, you are sure doing a pretty good job of acting like you do.”

Kyle walked out of the hotel suite and down the hall to the penthouse apartment the Wards were staying in.

Jemma stared after him, knowing that the boy was right but too much had happened between her and Fitz. She closed the door to her suite, tears falling from her eyes and lay down on the couch, falling asleep.

* * *

Coulson walked into the cafeteria and saw Natasha and Steve sitting at one of the tables having coffee and talking quietly. He suspected that it was about how to get the money out of John Garrett’s accounts for the Ward family.

“Is this seat taken?” Coulson waited for a response to his question and saw his childhood hero motion for him to sit down. He saw the plans and realized that they had come to conclusion that a nanomask would have to be used. That Steve was going to be the one to pretend to be Ward because he was around the same height. “You lost more because of Hydra than anybody, Captain. Why are you helping a traitor?”

“Lily Ward was one of the first people to actually ask me how I was doing in regards to getting used to living in the twenty first century. In return, we talked to each other about different things in our lives. One of her stories was of her nephew that disappeared when he was fifteen years old and how badly the boy and his siblings had been abused by their mother. That because of who they were nobody would ever believe that the home of then Senator Travis Ward would be a toxic place for their children. Or that his wife was crazy and got her kicks of locking her third child in a closet for hours at a time, leaving him out in freezing weather for thirty minutes for not putting up his toys or beating him with a hairbrush the day his sister left for boarding school for doing something most three year olds do every day and don’t get punished for it. By the time that boy’s mother got done with him, he was just vulnerable enough for John Garrett to brainwash him. Now we found out that the mother knew what was going on and that every year afterwards she stole five million dollars out of the family’s trust accounts to pay Garrett to do it. I am doing it for Lily and that abused little boy who didn’t stand a chance from the moment he was born.”

Coulson felt nausea rise inside of him at Steve’s words and realized that he had contributed to it by agreeing to give Ward to Christian.

“I have never been so disappointed in you after I found out about the deal you made with Senator Ward,” Natasha quietly said. “I get that he betrayed you, Phil but I have a feeling most of your anger is directed at Garrett and since he isn’t here, Grant is a convenient scapegoat.”

“I took down Shield along with Hydra for a reason, Phil. The old way of doing things wasn’t working and that was what allowed Hydra to infiltrate them in the first place.” Steve stood up as he finished speaking and walked out of the cafeteria, holding what was left of his coffee in his hand.

“I’ve disappointed him, haven’t I?”

“Damn right you did,” Natasha replied. “I can see why he was chosen to take the serum. He is an example of how we all should be. He could hate Grant Ward for the things he did in the service of Hydra and be justified because he lost everything he knew because of them. He instead decides to help him. Maybe the rest of us could take page out of his book.”

Natasha got up and left the room, leaving Phil Coulson to think long and hard about some of the decisions he had been making lately.

* * *

Grant was sitting by his aunt’s bedside while the doctors were examining Skye and hoped she would wake up soon. His family needed her calm presence to keep them from going crazy. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that Lily was awake.

“Grant,” her voice quietly said. “What happened?”

“Do you remember touching Fitz on the shoulder and the both of you collapsing?”

Lily’s eyes opened wide as it all came back to her in fast waves that just about overwhelmed her.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes. Your touch healed him.”

“The healing touch,” Lily stated, closing her dark eyes.

“That was what Louise called it. Fitz said that he saw every memory that you have ever had and that you did the same thing with him.”

“I did. I saw the day you dropped the pod off of the plane. I understand that you were trying to save their lives, Grant but did you think about how terrified they would be when you did it?”

“It was the only way to save their lives. Garrett wanted them dead and he wanted me to do it. I couldn’t do it because I started to care for both of them. I had to give them their best chance and that was it.”

Before Lily could respond, the other members of their family came rushing into the room, hugging Lily and asking how she was feeling. Grant got up and went down to Skye’s room to find the doctors had left and that Jemma Simmons had come back, waiting to speak to him. Her eyes were red like she had been crying. He wanted to ask if she was okay but his right to do that had ended the moment the pod dropped off of the Bus.

“What’s going on?”

“Jemma walked in on something that you need to know about.”

Grant had a feeling this was about Kyle and that he wasn’t going to like it, given that Simmons had come back to the hospital.

“I walked into the suite I am sharing with Bobbi and Lance to find Kyle and Elena making out on the couch. I sent Elena back to her mother and tried to talk to Kyle.”

“Let me guess, he turned it around on you,” Grant stated. “I didn’t want him to get anything from his grandmother but apparently I wasn’t that lucky. She was notorious for doing that. I will deal with him tomorrow.”

“Grant, this needs to be dealt with tonight,” Skye said quietly. “He will think that he got away with it.”

“You’re right. I will see if May or Romanoff will stay with you while I go back to the hotel and deal with my son,” he sat down in a chair. “I am so not ready for this.”

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Kyle looked up from his laptop to see his dad standing in the doorway of the room he was sleeping in and knew that Dr. Simmons had gone straight to him. He had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well for him.

“First, you will apologize to Jemma for whatever it was that you said to her,” Grant said sternly. “She didn’t tell me but I can tell when someone has been crying.”

“I called her out on having feelings for Fitz and that her anger at you was more about him being hurt than anything else.”

“Kyle, that was uncalled for and you know it.”

“I shouldn’t have said but she pissed me off trying to lecture me like she was my mom. Skye can get away with it because I have a feeling she will be my stepmom one day,” the boy said with a bit of an attitude.

Grant had to take a deep breath to control the temper that was bubbling under the surface. He would never physically or verbally abuse his son the way he had been. He wasn’t going to be a pushover either.

“Lose the attitude, Kyle. Now back to what you said to Jemma, I understand why you got angry at her but she was also the one who caught you and knew that it was something that Adele and I wouldn’t want you and Elena doing,” Grant commented. “That’s another thing. You are to have a condom on you at all times because if you make me a grandfather before I am forty, I will not be happy with you.”

“Elena sent me a text before her mom took her phone away. She’s grounded for a month and we are not to be alone together for a long time.”

“I agree with Adele. You are grounded for a month, no phone or internet. Oh and you get to tell your Aunt Lily why.”

Kyle turned pale as a sheet at his father’s words because his Aunt, while being one of the nicest people in the world, also had told him to be careful with Elena and she wasn’t going to be happy with him.

* * *

Grant got back to the hospital to find all three of his siblings smirking at him as they stood in Lily’s room. Jemma had told Tommy what she had found at the hotel and it had quickly spread to everybody else.

“How did it go grounding him for the first time?”

“Shut up, Christian.”

“Anna and I are thinking about adopting a child so any advice my brother can give me would be very useful,” the Senator said, grinning.

“Christian Michael, I think your brother told you to shut up,” Lily said, glaring at her oldest nephew.

Christian wisely shut up as Grant turned to face his aunt, who still looked pale but wasn’t as weak as she had been earlier.

“I told him that he had to tell you but to wait until you were out of the hospital so don’t give him too much trouble.”

“I won’t. Besides Adele already called me and has asked for them not to be left alone together.”

“I agree.  He is also grounded from his phone and the internet,” Grant said, holding up the cell phone he had taken from his son before leaving the hotel.

* * *

A week had passed and both Skye and Lily were back on the farm but under orders to rest as much as possible. Both stubborn women were not very obedient patients. Fitz had shocked his Shield teammates by leaving, along with Mack, to stay at the farm. He was staying in another one of the buildings on the property that was going to be converted to a lab for him on the first level. The second level would have living quarters for him and Mack. They were sleeping on roll out beds on the first level after a central air system had been put in the building, now that it was starting to become one of the humid summers the Southeastern United States was famous for.

Ward, Michael and Kyle, as a part of his punishment, were helping Mack and Fitz with fixing the building and at a certain point, all of them had taken their shirts off. Of course, the latter covered in SPF 50 sunblock to protect his fair skin from sunburn.

Adele, who had brought lunch to them, warily watched her daughter admiring the new muscles forming on Kyle’s upper body but was distracted herself. Despite her best efforts not to, Adele couldn’t resist staring at Mack.

Skye, who was sitting beside Grant on a bench, as they both ate a sandwich, giggled.

“You are aware that Adele seems to be attracted to Mack.”

“Yes, I am but I don’t know what is going on with him and Fitz so I hope that looking is all she does.”

Skye burst out laughing getting to the point Grant worried about the still healing wounds on her back.

“Grant, Fitz is still in love with Jemma. Mack has been a friend and protector for him. A lot of what you were before everything went down with Hydra.”

“He seems to be letting me be that for him again and I don’t know why.”

“He saw Lily’s memories of the abuse you went through and I think deep down a lot of his anger was missing the big brother he had found in you. I have witnessed him watching you and Thomas since he has been here and he is jealous that you have your real little brother back.”

Before Grant could respond, he felt his cellphone go off and looked down at it to find a message from Kara. She had gone to get her girlfriend Ally from the airport.

_**“Don’t be mad at me. Ally got it into her head that she needed to bring Susan with her even though I told her about you and Skye getting together. She won’t let go of the thought of her best friend being with my best friend.”** _

_**“Kara! What the hell!”** _

_**“Susan told me that Ally wouldn’t leave her alone until she agreed to come with her but said that she will leave you and Skye alone. Ally and I will be having a conversation about this.”** _

Grant looked up from his phone and felt dread at telling Skye that Susan was here in Virginia and that she would be at dinner that night.

“Skye, there is something that you need to know…”


	15. The Ex

Later that afternoon, Skye was at the window of Christian and Anna’s room standing with the latter as they watched two women with blond hair step out of the limo. One was about her height with shoulder length hair and a slender frame that was holding hands with Kara, so she knew that this was Ally. Skye had never felt insecure about herself before until she saw Susan for the first time.

The other woman that Grant Ward had loved was a tiny blond about five foot tall, waist length hair and a classically beautiful face that reminded Skye of an old fashioned cameo she had seen one of her foster mothers wear.

“Skye, you have nothing to worry about while she is here,” Grant said as he came behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

Anna quietly left the room to let her brother-in-law calm her friend.

“Grant, she is here for a reason and I don’t believe for one minute that her best friend pressured her into coming.”

“Even if that is true, she is wasting her time.”

Skye turned in his arms and they shared a tender kiss, their arms wrapped around each other. They were so lost in each other, neither one of them noticed Cal step inside the room.

“They are here and Lily wants the both of you downstairs to greet them.”

Skye reluctantly pulled away from Grant, took his hand and started to walk out of the room before her father’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Skye, your mother would be very proud of the woman you have become, just like me, Agent May and Coulson are. Grant and his son love you very much and the three of you have become a family. Don’t let jealousy cause you to make a mistake that you will regret.”

Skye smiled at her biological father before all three of them left the room and went downstairs.

As they went out the front door, Skye was taken aback at the hatred that Ally stared at her with while Susan stood beside her friend without an expression on her face.

“Skye, this is Allison Ridgefield and Susan McCallister,” Kara smiled reassuringly at Skye before speaking again. “Ally, Sue, this is Skye, Dr. Zabo’s daughter.”

“Oh so you’re the bitch who shot Grant,” Ally snidely stated.

“Allison, that is enough,” Susan snapped at her friend.

Kara led Ally back to the car where the two women were soon heard arguing.

Sue walked over to Grant and Skye, hugging him and shaking Skye's hand.

“I apologize for Ally. She had some little fantasy in her head of her best friend being with Kara’s best friend and she has a tendency to act like this when she doesn’t get her way.”

“Like a spoiled brat,” Kyle said.

Grant turned to his son with a fierce look before facing Susan again.

“Sue, this is my son Kyle.”

“You have a son?”

“I found out about him a month ago and he has been living with me ever since.”

Sue quietly took that in before walking away to talk to Anna, who she had seemingly met before.

“That took the wind out of her sails,” Louise whispered to Thomas as they stood watching what was going from right inside the house.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that Sue isn’t overt with her intentions the way Ally seems to be. She is sneakier and plays the peacemaker card until it is the right time to cause trouble.”

“Are you or Aunt Lily going to stop her?”

“No. I want to see what she does first besides this will be the first challenge to the two of them being together. They either handle it together or fall apart.”

“How did Kyle take the wind out of her sails?”

“She didn’t picture being a stepmother to a sixteen year old in her little fantasy of a life with Grant.”

* * *

A few hours later, everybody was sitting around the table in the dining room, eating and quietly talking. Lily and Travis sat at each end of the table while Grant sat beside Skye with Kyle on the other side of her. Across from them was Sue and Ally, who had stopped glaring but the latter still made her dislike of Skye very known. The tension in the air was so thick that everybody felt like they were going to choke.

Lily and Louise shared a loaded look as the two witches knew what was going on but decided to sit back and watch it play out.

“So what do you do for a living, Skye?” Susan’s question came across as innocent but Grant glared at her, knowing what she was up to.

“I work in computer technology and have been working with Mr. Ward and Lily on updating their computer systems for their businesses.”

“She is brilliant and an asset to this family,” Travis said, smiling reassuringly at his son’s girlfriend.

“I guess she has more skills than shooting someone when their back is turned and walking away,” Ally commented.

“I think it is time to go back to our hotel,” Kara said, standing up from the table and pushing her chair in.

“I agree,” Sue said, glaring at her friend and standing up too.

It didn’t take long for Kara and the other two women to leave the house. The limo was heard going down the road.

“I am going to slap that catty little bitch before this is all over,” Anna commented.

“Before everybody leaves, I need to talk to all of you about the phone call I just received. It was Judge Monroe’s office. He is coming here in a week to visit the farm and we are having a formal party that night at the Marriott all of us stayed at in Winston Salem. He wants Grant there so he is allowing you to leave the cabin to come to the party but you have to be back here by midnight,” Lily said.

“Why is he doing this now?” “

We all knew that he would be making visits to see how everything is going,” she answered Louise’s question.

The family quietly left the dining room while Cal stayed back to talk to Lily, who was still sitting at the table.

“How are you feeling?”

“I am fine, Cal. I wish everybody would stop asking that,” she bit out before realizing how harsh she sounded. “I’m sorry for sounding so harsh but my family is driving me crazy asking me that question and it caught up with me.”

“I understand,” Cal said.

“Whatever happened was a good thing because I have been down to Mr. Fitz’s lab and he is working on so many things down there. It is like his brain is trying to make up for lost time.”

“His mind will be needed for what’s to come.”

* * *

Later that night, Skye couldn’t sleep and just laid there beside Grant, watching him. She had forgotten that her former SO was aware of everything around him and wasn’t expecting his eyes to open.

“Skye, you need some sleep.”

“All I can see is Sue and Ally sitting across from us looking like the fashion models in the magazines and that one of them would be accepted more in your family’s social circles than I ever would.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her to him, running his fingers through her dark hair.

“You are what this family needs, Skye. My father, who was one of the biggest snobs on the planet, loves you and defended you. My son told me that he wants you to be his stepmother. I love you.”

“You love Sue too.”

“There is a difference, Skye. I loved her for helping me stop thinking about you at a time when I was so angry with you, I couldn’t see straight. The difference is that I loved her but I am in love with you. That little display Ally made at dinner and when they arrived is going to come back to bite her because I have never seen Kara that angry. I don’t think she and Ally are having the romantic reunion that she was planning.”

“I don’t trust Sue. Something doesn’t feel right about her little ‘sweet and innocent’ routine.”

“I know. She has an ulterior motive and I will find out what when I talk to her tomorrow although I have a feeling finding out about Kyle messed up her plans.”

“Why?”

“Sue doesn’t want children.”

“She won’t give up, Grant. She will try to make you think that she has changed her mind about that.”

Grant realized in that moment that words weren’t working and that he had to show her how much he loved her. She was the one he wanted, not Sue. He kissed her tenderly, losing himself in her before holding her tightly to him and rubbing her lower back until she relaxed enough to go to sleep. He lay there planning out his next move before joining her.

* * *

After lunch, Skye sat at the dining room table in the main house, helping Lily go over plans for the party when Louise walked in carrying a white wicker basket. It was filled with different colors of daisies and other flowers that obviously come from a florist.

“These just arrived for you, Skye.”

She smiled, knowing exactly who they were from and picked up the envelope but not before smelling the flowers. She pulled out the card from the envelope and smiled at the words written there.

_**‘I don’t care if your name is Daisy, Skye or even Mary Sue; the only one for me is you. These flowers aren’t as beautiful as you are but I hope they make you smile. I love you.’** _

She giggled at the cheesy words contained there but fell even more in love. Grant Ward was many things but he wasn’t a poet but she loved how his words made her feel.

“You helped him with this,” she said, looking at Louise and Lily.

“Everything but the card, he wanted that to be from him,” Lily said. “Did it work?”

“Yes.”

Right when she finished speaking, Kara came into the room with Ally and Sue right behind her.

Lily put on the expression that Skye knew was her ‘I don’t want you here but I’ll be polite' face and watched Sue closely.

“What are you three up to?”

“Kara was going to give us a tour of your farm, Ms. Ward. If that is okay with you of course,” Sue said, sounding so sweet it would give a person a toothache.

“I have no problem with that. You can go anywhere but Mr. Fitz’s lab. He is running experiments down there and we wouldn’t any of you to get hurt,” Lily said, fighting not to roll her eyes.

The three women walked off but not before Ally bumped the table and caused Skye’s flowers to fall. If Louise hadn’t of been there to catch them, they would have been destroyed.

“Aunt Lily, I swear that I am going to slap that bitch before she leaves. Are they really staying for the party or can we make them leave before then?”

“I’m afraid not. Susan’s father is friends with Judge Monroe and the two of them are leaving with him when the party is over.”

Skye didn’t say anything; she just sniffed the flowers once again before getting back to work. She ignored the fact that her powers were slowly building up and it was taking every technique that May, Lily and Louise had taught her to control it.

* * *

Grant was standing in the lab with Fitz, Mack and Tommy, holding a ring box in his hands. He handed it over to Fitz and watched as he opened it, shock on his face.

“Is this what I think it is? Isn’t it too soon for that?”

“Yes it is, Fitz. That is for later when or if the time is right. I need you to keep it safe while my ex is here, I don’t want anything to happen to it especially since Ally is with her. She has a problem of stealing things that don’t belong to her.”

Fitz took the ring box and opened the safe that had been installed behind a picture of the Avengers that Coulson had given him.

“Tommy implied that there is a gift you are giving Skye tonight. What is it?”

“Thomas, you talk too much,” Grant shot back at his younger brother.

“This is making up for all of the times I never got to give you hell over dating, big brother.” Thomas said, smirking.

“You are aware that payback is a bitch right? What if I tell Michael what you called your blanket when we were little?”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Fitz closed the safe harder than was needed and made Mack, Grant and Thomas turn to see what was wrong.

“So what are you getting Skye,” Fitz asked, acting like he hadn’t just had a very noticeable fit of anger.

“There is a necklace and earrings that go with that ring and I am giving her one of them tonight and the other the night of the party, so she can wear them. I can’t make up my mind which one.”

“Ward, why are you doing all of this?”

“Sue being here has made Skye insecure and jealous. It isn’t helping that Ally attacks her every chance she can get and Sue is playing the ‘sweet and innocent’ act. She is far from it,” he responded to Fitz’s question. “I have tried telling her that she is the one that I am in love with and it isn’t working so after talking to Kara, I am going with romantic gestures. Adele is helping me by cooking dinner for us down at the cabin while Kyle is spending the night in dad’s room. While Kara is staying in Elena’s room while she shares with her mom.”

The door to the lab flew open and Louise stormed into the room, her long dark hair flying falling out of the neat bun it had been in. She looked mad as hell and Grant had a sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to like what his older sister had to say.

“If something isn’t said to Ally about her attitude, I am going to hex her ass!”

“What did she do?”

“She saw the flowers you sent to Skye and purposely bumped the dining room table. The only thing that kept them from being destroyed was I used my magic to grab them.”

Grant didn’t say a word; he grabbed his cellphone and called Kara. His caramel eyes hardened in fury as he gripped the phone tight in his hand.

“Tell Sue that I need to talk to her, now! Ally’s immature games had better stop, Kara.”

He hung up the phone and left the lab, ready to do battle.

“The last time he got that pissed was when Skye’s now ex-boyfriend showed up and she slept with him. He ignored her for days after that but this is worse,” Fitz commented as they all worried about what would happen.

* * *

Kara, Ally and Sue were standing on the porch of the cabin as Grant drove a golf cart from the direction of the lab and parked it. He got out and stormed up to the porch, the angriest Kara had ever seen him.

“How fucking old are you, Ally? Skye and I are in a relationship and your little fantasy of you and Sue dating best friends and that big double wedding are not happening. In fact, if you don’t cut it the fuck out, you will lose Kara.”

“Grant, she will apologize to Skye and the comments will stop. I promise,” Sue said, walking over to him and attempting to touch his arm.

Grant stepped back from her, knowing exactly what she was up to. “I don’t know why you are here, Sue. We broke up before I left Miami and this little ‘sweet and innocent’ routine isn’t working. My life is here with Skye and my son. When the time comes, I plan on marrying Skye and having more children with her.”

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble, Grant.” Sue walked away with tears in her eyes as Ally glared at him before following her.

Kara sat down in the rocking chair by the front door of the cabin and cradled her head in her hands. “We argued for hours over her immature display last night and she still won’t accept that things won’t go her way. Neither one of them were who we thought they were, were they?”

“I knew that Sue wasn’t the sweetheart she appeared to be. Now Ally surprised me and I am sorry that me breaking up with Sue has caused you pain.”

Grant sat down beside his friend and hugged the crying woman comfortingly.


	16. A Romantic Night

It was around nine o'clock when Skye left the main house and walked down to the cabin. She had helped get everything planned for the party and was ready for a long shower before checking her emails and going to bed.

When she got to the porch of the cabin, Skye went to the door and opened it. What she saw brought tears to her eyes and a smile to her face.

The room was filled with candles and roses, a very nice dinner on the kitchen table and a handsome man standing in the middle of it, holding a purple daisy in his hand. She closed the door, locked it and walked over to Grant, kissing him softly.

It quickly turned passionate and they clung to each other until they had to pull away to breathe. She laid her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You didn't have to do all of this," she said quietly.

"Yes, I did. You weren't listening to what I was saying about Sue, so I decided to show you. I have something else for you."

He pulled away from her and walked over to entertainment center and pulled a jewelry box out of one of the side drawers.

"Grammy gave me this right before she passed away and told me that I should give them to someone that I love. I think she knew that they were meant for you even though she had just met you."

Grant opened the box so Skye could see it and tears filled her eyes at the lovely antique diamond earrings. The round cut two point five carat diamonds winked at her from where they were attached to the box.

"Grant, how can you still love me enough to give me these? I shot you and told you that you should have slammed your head into a wall harder. I have been a bitch to you."

"Skye, I admit that I was very pissed off at you from the time you shot me until my conversation with Lily the day I got to Hamptons. Then I thought about what she told me that you were trying to keep me from following you into those tunnels or stopping you from following Raina," he gently kissed her on the forehead before speaking again. "You're right. I wouldn't have let you go down into that tunnel or would have followed you down there. The sight of you holding the obelisk scared the hell out of me and I didn't want you anywhere near that damn thing."

She pulled his head down to her and kissed him with a passionate abandon that had them both reeling.

"Take me upstairs, now."

"What about dinner?"

"We can heat it up later."

"What about your back?"

"Lily had Tommy check everything out and its fine."

Before she could finish speaking, his lips were on hers and Skye felt him lift her up into his arms. Their mouths separated long enough for him to carry her up the stairs to their room before meeting again after he sat her down at the foot of the bed and closed the door.

Fitz was working down in his lab alone while Mack was up at the main house playing poker with Kara, who was avoiding her girlfriend like the plague. He was so lost in his work that Leo didn't hear Tommy step into the barn and walk over to him.

"We need to talk."

Fitz jumped at the sound of his voice, not expecting the other man to be standing there.

"For some reason, you're jealous of my relationship with Grant," Tommy said. "Why?"

"For all of the ways I was angry at him, I still missed him being a big brother to me, even my friendship with Mack hasn't taken that away. Now he has a relationship with his real little brother again, so why would he bother with me?"

"He missed you too, Leo," Tommy commented. "He was worried about you when everything happened with you and Aunt Lily. The look on his face when I told him that you were okay made me jealous of you. For over fifteen years, my brother was gone from my life and all of it because of my parents, my oldest brother and a psychopath who fucked him up so bad that he might not ever completely recover it."

"Did you ever see your mother abuse him?"

Tommy shivered as a memory from when he was five years old came back to him.

"Yes. It was right after the Christmas that I turned five years old when I saw her throw him out into the backyard when it was five degrees outside and the wind made it feel even colder. He didn't have a coat on and I could hear him crying before he walked away from the door. What my mother didn't know was the butler had set up a place in the tool shed for Grant to go to and not freeze to death on the times that mother did that to him. She used him as her whipping boy for years. Christian told me what mother did to him on the night that Lou left for boarding school. He was three and had been Lou's little shadow since he was born. He missed her and was crying for her. She beat him with a hair brush until his legs were bruised, then put him to bed that way and wouldn't let the nanny calm him down; threatened to fire the woman if she even went into Grant's room,"

Tears filled Tommy's eyes at the thought of anybody beating a three year old like that. He had seen too many cases of child abuse during his ER rotation in med school.

"According to Christian, dad snuck in the room, calmed down Grant, rocked him to sleep and called Gramzy. She sent grandpa over and when he saw the damage mom had done to Grant, he took Grant and Christian away from our parents and they lived with them for a year. She then put on an Oscar worthy performance and pretended like the therapy she had been ordered to take was working. After she got both of them back, that woman found ways to torture them both that wouldn't leave scars and told dad that if he ever went over her head like that again, she would kill him. Our grandparents knew what she was doing but could never prove it so they could take custody again and Dad was too fucking scared of her to fight for his children ever again."

Fitz couldn't say a word as the realization of what Ward had gone through sunk in even more than it already had. It made him thankful his own mother who had raised him by herself but had been very loving to him.

Skye gripped Grant's shoulders as a loud orgasmic scream came from her as he collapsed on top of her. She held him in place, not wanting to let him go as they remained joined together.

"You are an ass, Grant Ward. We could have been doing this since Dublin and you had to choose Garrett."

She felt his laugh rumble in his chest before letting him pull out of her and lay down beside her on the bed. He pulled her into his arms and cradled her head on his sweaty chest, caressing her arm.

"If we had started sleeping together then, Garrett would have made sure that you died. He was a ruthless and selfish son of a bitch that would do whatever he had to do to get his way."

"Have you heard from Black Widow and Captain America about getting that money back?"

"They had arrived in the Cayman Islands yesterday and were going to go to the bank this morning. Aunt Lily said that they closed all of the accounts there and going to Switzerland to close the remaining accounts before coming back here."

"Good. Maybe once that money is back where it belongs, everybody can start to move on."

"Skye, do you know why Fitz has a tantrum everytime me and Tommy joke around with each other?"

Skye pulled away from him and started to laugh hysterically for a brief moment before calming down and kissing him briefly. She ran her fingers through his thick dark hair before starting to speak.

"He is jealous, Grant and so is Tommy. They are in competition over you."

"What?"

"Your baby brother and surrogate baby brother are fighting over you."

"Is that why Mack grins like a jackass everytime all four of us are in the same room together?"

"Mack isn't the only one; he and Christian have a bet going on which one punches the other first," she replied before moving over to straddle his waist. "I think we have more important things to do besides arguing over Fitz and Tommy, don't you?"

Grant smirked at her before pulling her down to him and flipped them over. His lips claimed hers in a hungry kiss that led to other more pleasurable things.

Lily lay in her bed, reading her Kindle when tremors shook the house and she grinned knowing exactly what was causing them. She sat the reader down and got up, grabbing her robe and pulling it on.

She stepped out of her room and walked down to the second floor to see Cal and Travis sitting in the loveseat in the small sitting room that was located at the top of the stairs, drinking scotch.

"I don't know if getting drunk is such a good idea," she said with a grin.

"It's better to do that and pass out than know that the earthquake is being caused by my son and his girlfriend having sex," Travis commented before taking another gulp of the strong alcohol.

Cal didn't say a word; he just sipped on the scotch and prayed for sleep to come soon. He has accepted that his Daisy was now a woman and he didn't have a problem with Grant Ward but it still wasn't easy for him to think about them having sex.

After two more rounds of lovemaking, Skye and Grant were down in the kitchen. She was wearing his t-shirt and the denim shorts she had been wearing earlier while he was only wearing the khaki shorts he had been wearing.

Skye sat on the counter and watched him heat up the steak, spring vegetables and baked potatoes that Adele had made for them. If her stomach wasn't growling, she would push him back on the table and continued what they had started upstairs. Once she had gotten a taste of what it was like to be with Grant, Skye didn't want to stop.

"I can't figure out if May is a liar or what," she commented, running her hand down his shoulder and enjoying the shudder that went through him.

Grant turned to face her, confusion in his dark eyes.

"May claimed that you weren't that good in bed, now I know she was either lying or trying to save face."

She grinned at his irritated groan before he started to speak.

"May was a mission. Don't get me wrong, she is beautiful but she wasn't the one I wanted and it showed."

He moved away from the stove and stood in front of her, kissing her softly and caressing her cheek before pulling away and turning back to the stove.

"I was an ass, Skye and deserved some of the ass kicking that she gave me. I used her and I know that no matter how much I try to apologize to her for that, she will never accept it and that is her right. The only part that pissed Lou and Lily off was the fact that she needlessly fractured my larynx and that was why the one that cast the spell that threw May into the wall back in the Hampton's did it. They both feel like Coulson and Shield taking cheap shots at me is over and they won't hesitate to use their power to keep May from hurting me again."

"I think she has calmed down. Lily had a conversation with her about the fact that she would lose me if she kept it up. I love her like a mom but I can't keep accepting everything she and Coulson do and not question them."

"Lily is one of the nicest people in the world but will fight for the people she loves. I think with me, it is regret that she couldn't help out with my mother until after it was too late."

He put their food on plates and sat them on the table before lifting her off of the counter and kissing her tenderly. She wrapped her legs around his waist and almost lost herself in him before her stomach started to growl, letting her know that other needs were more important at that moment.

Grant sat her down on her feet and held out the chair in front of her plate, making sure she was okay before he sat down to eat. They carried on a quiet conversation as they enjoyed the reheated dinner, acting as if outside world didn't exist, only them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter got a bit serious in the middle with Tommy's story about the abuse he had witnessed. The hairbrush story will come back up again as Lou finds out exactly what happened to Grant the night she went to boarding school.


	17. A Sister's Anger

Louise came storming into the house, not paying any attention to the tremors shaking the yard, and walked into the sitting room where her father, Lily and Cal were still sitting. Her fists were clenched and her dark eyes stormy as she looked at Travis.

"Did that raving bitch beat Grant with a hairbrush the night I left for boarding school?"

"Where did you hear that?"

"I overheard Tommy telling Fitz about how Christian had told him about it when we were kids," she bit out. "No wonder she wanted me gone, she knew with my powers that I wouldn't let her hurt Grant or Christian. I knew that she had done something for them to be living with Gram and Grandpa and how withdrawn he was but nobody would tell what she did."

"You would have killed her, Lou. I wanted to when I found out and your grandmother told me no. I hated it when Milly played the judge like a fiddle and got them back," Lily gently said.

"You never protected me and Christian from her," Louise said to her father. "What made you decide to grow a pair and help Grant that night?"

"He was screaming so loud after she got done with him and it took me thirty minutes of rocking him to calm Grant down enough that he would go to sleep. The bruises on his legs were already starting to turn black and blue, there was one place on his upper thigh where one of the bristles on the brush had cut him and he cried out in pain everytime he moved even after he went to sleep. It had to stop and I knew that my parents were the only ones who could."

"What changed to make you help her get them back instead of testifying against her and making sure she never hurt them again?"

Travis turned to face his still furious daughter and his emotions started to get the best of him. He felt Lily place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"After your grandfather left with Grant and Christian, she held a knife to my throat and told me that if I didn't help her get our sons back, she would kill me then go over to your grandparents' house and kill everybody there; that Lily would be first to die to prevent her from using a spell on her. She was crazy and scared the hell out of me."

"That bitch wouldn't have gotten out of her car before I stopped her or anybody else she sent. I would have seen them coming even if I had been asleep."

Louise watched her aunt and knew that her powers had always been stronger especially her ability to see what was coming. She suspected that Lily knew exactly who Tommy's biological father was but had chosen not to say a word because of the pain it would cause.

She walked over, grabbed the bottle of scotch and a glass, filling it full before drinking some. The burn going down her throat lasted a moment but the warmth that filled her body, made her drink some more. This was not meant to be a sober night for her and it wasn't like this was the first time she had used alcohol to dull the pain of her childhood.

* * *

Grant woke up and glanced around to see that he and Skye hadn't made it back to the bedroom after eating. They were lying on the floor in front of the fireplace after making love there. He grinned as he remembered every moment of being with her. He would always want her.

"Good morning," she said sleepily before leaning over to kiss him. "What time is it?"

"Three o'clock. I have to be up in two hours to work on the farm," he smirked at her. "I won't be a lot of use to Michael today. You wore me out last night."

"How about we go for round five in the shower? Or are you too worn out to try it?"

Skye had stood up while speaking and was rushing up the stairs to their bedroom. Grant quickly stood and followed her, finding her already in the huge shower and the water already running down her body. She looked breathtakingly beautiful.

Grant opened the glass door and stepped inside, wrapping his arms around her and lowering his head to kiss her. He went stiff as a board when her fingers traced the scar that was on his right thigh and knew that the inevitable question of how he got it was coming.

"Did you get this from one of your missions?"

"No. I have had that since I was three years old."

"You remember something from that long ago?"

"Despite what I told my family, a person doesn't forget their mother beating them with a hairbrush because she was drunk and didn't want to deal with a heartbroken little boy that was missing his sister."

Tears filled Skye's eyes as she took in what he had just told her and wrapped her arms around him. Her heart went out to the vulnerable little boy that had only wanted his older sister and had been abused by the one person who should have been a source of comfort to him.

They quickly dried off and made their way back to the bed, falling asleep in each others arms as she gently caressed not only the scars from the gunshot wounds she had given him but the one his mother had put on him.

* * *

Later the next day while Grant was giving Kyle a defense lesson, Skye stepped into Fitz's lab. She saw her friend sitting there, talking to Jemma on Skype and the tension between them. They had never recovered from Fitz's not telling her about Skye's new abilities and it broke her to see them acting so formally with each other.

Fitz broke the connection after a few moments and turned to face Skye, who had tears in her eyes.

"I know that I hurt you when I left with Lily but I had to go, Fitz. The past six months had been a living hell with everybody else looking at me like I would hurt them. I have found my place here and I am so glad you came here too."

Fitz walked over and hugged her the same way he had after he had figured out that she had been changed.

"I understood because of how everyone was acting towards you. Now that I am here, I can help you and everybody else. I have been given a gift and I plan on paying back what I have been given," he responded before taking a good look at her and figuring out that something else was wrong with Skye. "What's the matter?"

"Grant told me about something his mother did to him when he was three years old and he still has the scar from when it happened."

"Tommy told me about how their mother beat Ward with a hairbrush on the night Louise went to boarding school. No child should ever have to go through what he did but Tommy didn't say anything about the scar."

"Grant told me that he let his family think that he blacked out what happened but he remembers it; all because he missed his older sister who had been more of a mother to him than his own."

"I hate to say this because it sounds so bloody judgmental but if you believe in some religions, she is roasting in hell right now."

"I think she would have paid for it if I had left things alone. Mr. Ward was in the process of divorcing her and putting her in jail. Grant didn't want Kyle anywhere around her and the other three, if they ever have children, didn't want her around them. It sounds like the rest of her life would have been miserable."

"Do you regret doing that to her?"

"Some days I do but then I hear stories of the things she did to her children and I change my mind. Do you think that makes Lady Siff and the Kree that she chased here right about me? Am I a monster?"

"You are Skye and in no way shape or form a monster. You have something really shitty happen to you and despite a lot of pain in getting it under control, have finally started to accept it and learn to deal with it."

"He's right, Skye. I think what I did when I betrayed the team changed you more than your new found power ever did," Grant commented as he walked over to where Skye and Fitz were standing. "Just remind me to never piss you off enough to shoot me again."

Fitz grinned at Ward's comment while Skye groaned and laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the top of the head.

"Grant, how you can joke with her about that make me wonder if you have lost your damn mind! The bitch shot you," Sue stepped into the lab, her blond hair pulled into a ponytail and her tiny frame wearing a red tank top, blue jeans and a pair of blue Skechers with a red stripe going around them.

"Now this is the Sue I know. The one who showed her disdain for anybody she feels is beneath her social standing," Grant snapped back at his ex. "What the hell are you doing in here? Aunt Lily told me that you aren't supposed to be in Fitz's lab."

"It seems to be the only place I can find you to talk since you run here like a damn coward everytime I show up," Sue stated, her hands on her hips and glaring at the arm Grant had around Skye's waist.

"That should give you a clue that I don't want to talk to you. We said everything we needed to in Miami when we broke up. I don't why you have changed your mind and have decided that you want me back but that isn't happening."

"You might change your mind after you hear what I have to say," Sue smirked wickedly. "I know about Skye being an inhuman and that she can cause earthquakes. What would happen if I let the investigators that are trying to figure out how your house in Boston collapsed know about that little fact. Think about that, Grant because if I can't have you, I will make sure this bitch goes to jail for killing your mother."

Before anything could be said, Sue goes slamming into the wall and a furious Louise steps into the room. She walked over to where a stunned Sue stared at her in shock.

"Did you forget about the fact that the women in this family are witches?"

"She killed your mother, Louise. How can all of you accept her like this?"

"She did all of us a favor! That woman was an alcoholic and abusive pain that abused her husband and children. Skye did what she did after all of us found out that our mother paid Grant's kidnapper to take him and make his life hell. So it wouldn't take much for even the most mediocre lawyer to get her off on temporary insanity charges."

Louise looked like an avenging angel standing over Sue with her long dark hair flowing down her shoulders and her five foot eight height only enhanced by four inch heels from the black pinstripe business suit she was wearing.

"You are no longer allowed on our farm and after I tell Christian about this, any hope your father had for getting his help with the highway project is over. Get your dumb ass up off of the floor and leave," Louise turned to face Mack, who was standing there watching everything in shock. "Mack, escort Sue to the gate and make sure she leaves, tell the security guard that she is no longer allowed here."

The four remaining people watched as Mack led Sue out of the lab before Louise walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of scotch. She was getting ready to pour herself a glass of it when Grant's hand came down on top of it.

"Don't let all of this affect your sobriety, Lou?"

"You're too late, Grant. I got drunk last night after I found out that the rest of you have been keeping a big secret from me."

"Lou, you would have killed her! They couldn't let that happen."

"I knew something was wrong with you when I came home for Christmas that year and everybody acted like I was crazy. I wasn't stupid, Grant. I knew something had happened when they sent me to stay with you and Christian at Gram and Gramps house and wouldn't let any of us see mom."

Louise tried to move his hand from the top of the glass and Grant pulled it off of the counter, handing it to Skye.

"I am seeing if Aunt Lily will take you to a meeting. You fought too hard for over ten years to stay sober to let all of this destroy your life."

Louise started to cry and laid her head on her little brother's chest as Grant held his sobbing sister.

"Another family secret had better not come out, Grant or I will fucking lose it."

Skye and Fitz watched as the siblings held each other and felt badly for them. The latter hoped that Sue would not really do what she said she would because all hell would break lose.

* * *


	18. The Party Begins

Kyle watched as Mack walked past the main barn escorting a furious Sue off of the property and the teenager felt a raw hatred fill him that he had never experienced. This woman was doing everything she could to ruin the family he was finally going to have with his dad and Skye and it had to stop.

"My dad will never marry you and I will never accept you as my stepmother. On the very slim chance it does happen, my dad will not send me to boarding school like I heard you and Ally discussing," he got into her face, his height and muscular frame showing just how tiny she was in comparison to him. "Oh and given how powerful Skye is and the people with abilities well beyond your own that love her, would you really want to hurt her? Back off."

Kyle turned around and walked away; going into the main house where Lily stood by the back door, rage filling her brown eyes. She walked over to Sue and slapped her across the face.

"Tell your father that his little scheme to marry his baby girl off to a Ward failed just like his own did with me."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"You didn't think I would investigate who you were, Sue? Your father was my former fiance, who was more interested in getting his hands on my family's money and screwing his former high school sweetheart, who just happened to be my late sister-in-law than marrying me. He is Tommy's biological father so that would mean you and Grant share a sibling. Now get off of my property and if I see you and Ally trying to come back here, I will have the both of you arrested for trespassing," she said, clenching her fists in anger. "Oh and if you tell the police about Skye, some interesting paperwork will anonymously find its way to the IRS about yours and your father's illegal investments. I am tired of being nice about everything. If you want to see how nasty I can get, keep messing with Grant and Skye. I promise you, little girl, you don't want to see just what I am capable of because I will fuck your future up so bad, your life won't be worth spit."

Lily stormed into the house, the door frame shaking as the storm door slammed behind her. Mack, who had been watching the confrontation quietly, looked at Sue with a tiny bit of sympathy.

"I suggest you take her advice because from everything I have heard, she won't give you another warning."

Mack quietly led the trembling young woman to the limo that would take her back to her hotel, watching as the car went down the long driveway and through the front gate.

Cal came walking into the dining room to the sight of plates flying around the room and a furious Lily standing in the middle of it. He was in awe of her power but knew that as furious as the witch was, she would strike out at anybody who tried to talk to her at that moment.

"That little bitch actually had the nerve to threaten to turn Skye into the police for killing Milly, all so she could get Grant to marry her instead. Her father taught her very well on how to be a selfish lying sack of garbage."

"You have a history with her father?"

"Oh you bet I do! He is the reason I never let myself trust another man again."

Cal listened to the story of how she started to date Patrick McCallister, a man eighteen years older than her and how they had become engaged, only to find out that he was her sister-in-law's presumed dead high school sweetheart. How he had been having an adulterous affair with Milly the entire time he and Lily had been together and that he was Tommy's biological father.

"When the truth came out, instead of choosing to be with Patrick, Milly decided that being a Ward and having access to our money was what mattered the most. I ended my engagement to Patrick and I haven't seen him since. So of course, he uses his daughter to get his hands on our family's money and to see Tommy."

"What about the party? Are you still going to allow them to come?"

"Yes but I sent a message to Patrick through Judge Monroe that he is to be on his best behavior or I will expose him for the liar and cheat that he is. He knows I will do it and doesn't want to go to prison."

"Does Tommy know that Patrick is his biological father?"

"Yes. He wants nothing to do with him. In his eyes, Travis is his father. Unlike what happened with you and Skye, Patrick knew where Tommy was. Patrick chose not to see him and fight Milly in taking him away from her, especially when Christian started to abuse him or force Grant into doing it, he knew and didn't do a damn thing to stop it. That woman seemed to have an ability to pick cowards, they were easier to manipulate."

"Does Travis love Tommy or was this his way of getting back at Milly and Patrick?"

"Travis loves his children; he just didn't have the balls to stand up for them except for that one time with Grant. In his eyes, Tommy is his child and he will not be happy to find out about Patrick's latest schemes."

"Let's hope he never finds out."

Time had passed and it was the night of the party, the entire Ward family was back in the group of hotel rooms they had used when Skye had been in the hospital. Lily was down in the ballroom, wearing a fire engine red strapless Valentino that fit her slender waist to perfection before flaring out at her hips and falling to ankle length and her long dark hair pulled up into a simple chignon. A diamond choker rested against her long neck and matching diamond studs were in her ears.

"I would almost see if you wanted to resume our engagement if you weren't trying to destroy my family," a baritone voice came into her ears. "Time has been very kind to you, Liliana."

Lily, who was in the middle of talking to General Talbot about Sunil Bakshi's trial, turned to face him. The rage in her dark eyes was the only sign that she wanted to rip Patrick's eyeballs out.

"I see Sue gave you my message. Now do me a favor and stay away from me. Oh and Tommy doesn't want to see you at all. Stay the hell away from my nephew," she said, her expression one of polite indifference.

Patrick, still handsome at sixty three years old, his light blond hair since turning grey and his eyes still an icy blue that could cut through a person when filled with anger, glared at Lily. The Armani tux he was wearing fit his athletic frame perfectly as he started to speak.

"Don't ever threaten my child again or I will make you pay for it."

"The lady asked you to back off," Cal stated coming up behind Patrick, using his super strength to take firm grip on Patrick's wrist. "I suggest you walk away before my own little girl is embarrassed by me showing a side of myself that she really hates."

Cal released Patrick's wrist and watched as the other man walked away before he looked up and saw Skye standing there with Grant, his arm around her waist. She reminded him of Jiaying and tears came to his eyes.

"Jiaying would be very proud of you right now," Cal stated as he walked over to his daughter and her boyfriend.

Skye, who was wearing a gold Badgley Mischka evening gown that had a strapless neckline and a slit that ran from her left thigh down the floor, gave him a wary smile. She felt Grant, who was wearing a black Armani tuxedo that made him even more handsome than he already was, gently squeeze her waist.

"Thank you, Dad."

Cal's smile at her calling him that lit up the room before he walked away to talk to Lily and make sure Patrick stayed away from her.

"I think you made his day, Skye."

"I know I should have been scared of how he was with that man just now but I have a feeling that he was protecting Lily. Do you think we should be worried about how quickly they have become friends, Grant?"

He pulled her into his arms and they started to dance to the slow song that the band had started to play.

"They are adults and both have had their hearts broken by the selfish actions of others so if they can help each other out, I am fine with that."

Skye felt every eye in the room on them as they continued to dance as she laid her head on his chest.

"Everybody is staring at us, Grant."

"You are the most beautiful woman in the room so everybody either wants you or to be you."

She reached down and held onto the antique diamond pendant that matched her earrings and smiled at him. He had given it to her in their room and kissed her before putting it on her neck.

"I hope you know that wearing that tuxedo, you are the most handsome man in the room."

They continued to dance, lost in the music and each other.

Coulson stood on the side of the room with Melinda, wearing a longer version of the sliver gown that she had worn on their mission in Miami and more comfortable shoes, watching as the woman he loved like a daughter, dancing with a man he still didn't trust as far as he could throw him. He also knew that his relationship with Skye was still full of tension and that she would resist any attempts on his part to change her mind about Grant Ward.

"Phil, I hate seeing her with him as much as you do but there isn't anything we can do about it or we will lose her."

"That damn family has her and now Fitz on their farm and both of them have it in their heads that is where they need to be right now."

"We don't know what Fitz saw during his encounter with Lily and until he tells us, we have to trust that he knows what he is doing."

Fitz stood with Mack and Kara, watching as Jemma danced with Thomas Ward. The biochemist was wearing a black evening gown that went to her knees with a halter neckline and an open back. She laughed at something the handsome doctor said and Fitz couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Go ask her to dance, Turbo."

"No."

Mack and Kara shared a look of irritation as they had each heard the engineer arguing with Simmons over Skype. Something that had been happening every day since Fitz had left Shield. The worst one had been when she had seen Grant in the room with his arm around Skye's waist, the new couple oblivious to everybody but each other

Kara rolled her eyes before groaning in irritation at the sight of Ally walking her way, wearing an emerald green evening gown that was meant to seduce. The problem was she didn't really care anymore. Any affection she'd had for the other woman had disappeared after seeing her attitude in action.

"Mack, please dance with me," she begged her friend.

Mack and Fitz noticed Ally coming towards them and the former quickly escorted her to the area where everybody else was dancing. They quickly got lost in the crowd of dancers, ignoring the shriek of outrage from Ally, who had started going off on Fitz.

"Maybe you should cut your bloody losses and leave Kara alone. She doesn't want to be with you anymore," the engineer snapped at the woman.

"I am the one who dumps someone, not the other way around."

"With your attitude, I am sure that isn't true. Now do me a favor and leave me the hell alone," Fitz walked away from the blond and walking over to where Tommy and Jemma were dancing.

"May I cut in?"

Tommy looked at Jemma and saw the fear in her eyes that matched Fitz's and decided to help his friends out.

"Sure but don't cause a scene because my Aunt Lily will not be happy with either one of you."

He stepped back and watched as Fitz and Simmons started to dance, stiff and nervous about being around each other.

"Hello Thomas."

Tommy turned and faced the man that was responsible for him being in this world and felt nothing. In his mind, Travis Ward, despite his numerous faults and inability to protect him growing up, was his father, not Patrick McCallister. This man was nothing but the sperm donor who had helped his mother cause his family nothing but pain.

"Leave me alone, McCallister."

"I am not here for you but your sister. Are you going to ignore Susan?"

"As long as she continues to try to come between Grant and Skye than yes I am."

Tommy walked away from his biological father and over to the quiet corner where Travis was talking to a tall man in his early seventies wearing a tuxedo and shrewd pair of blue eyes that didn't miss anything around him. This was the man who was determining Grant's future, Judge Franklin Monroe.

"Father, Judge Monroe," Tommy said to both men before listening to their conversation and following their eyes as the two men watched Skye and Grant dancing together.

"Who is the young woman that he is with?"

"Agent Skye of Shield," Travis said.

"The young woman that shot him and helped Director Coulson attempt to sell him to Christian? Your son is a hell of a lot more forgiving then I am," Judge Monroe stated.

"He is in love with her and she has had to deal with a situation that has helped her grow up and realize her own feelings. Neither one of them haven't had it easy since Hydra decided to reemerge," Travis commented.

"Now they are after your grandson," Franklin stated. "Your son's past history of being abused by your wife and Senator Ward, young Kyle and me being your sister's godfather are the only things that made me decide to cut Grant any slack."

"I thank you for that. I also thank you for your help in the matter of my wife's death."

"Should the two of you be talking about this here?"

Travis turned to face Thomas, smirking at his youngest son.

"Your aunt has made sure that this room is protected from people wanting to eavesdrop on private conversations; especially certain blonds trying to get their hands on your brother and our money."

"I just had to walk away from Patrick McCallister and Dr. Zabo had to get him to leave Lily alone."

"Who is this Dr. Zabo?"

"Agent Skye's biological father, she was taken from him as a baby and hidden in an orphanage after her mother was murdered by Daniel Whitehall," Travis answered the judge's question.

"So that is why she used the last name Zabo when she was shot?"

"The hospital did that after he had to sign the consent paperwork."

"I will handle Patrick McCallister and get him to leave all of you alone. We have some business dealings that he can't afford me walking away from. Tell your son that I will consider easing up on some of the restrictions, particularly the time limits he has to be in the cabin if he continues following the court orders for the rest of the year. I will review the case again in five months to determine the next course of action if everything stays calm."

Grant stepped out of the bathroom and was heading back to the ballroom when the sight of Sue standing outside of the women's room and close to the top of the stairs going down to the lobby and into the hotel's restaurant.

"You don't damn well give up, do you?"

"She doesn't belong in this world. She isn't a society wife and doesn't know how our social circles work."

"What part of 'I am in love with her, not you' don't you understand? I don't care about my family's social circles. I never have."

"I meant what I said about exposing her as your mother's killer, Grant."

"Then you will find out why my aunt's temper is dangerous as hell, why Skye's father is called Mr. Hyde, what Coulson is capable of when you mess with his surrogate daughter and worse than that, why they call Agent May the 'Calvary'," he said, quietly before leaning in to whisper harshly in her ear. "Oh and Skye was trained by both Agent May and myself so with that and with her powers, I wouldn't mess with her."

They both felt the earth shake around them and turned to see Skye standing there, tears in her eyes. Grant quickly rushed away from Sue and over to his girlfriend.

"Calm down, I was just reminding her of what happens if she messes with you and the people who would make her life hell."

"Stay away from us," Skye bit out. "Kyle doesn't want you around him and Grant feels the same way. The three of us are a family and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

She passionately kissed Grant in front of Sue, not caring about the pain it would cause the other woman.

"I am ready to go back home, make love with you and fall asleep in your arms," Skye stated as she pulled away from Grant."

He smiled at her before kissing her again gently and pulling her away from a very devastated Susan McCallister and back into the ballroom.

Before she could follow them, a hand reached out and pulled her into the stairwell, picked her up and threw her over the railing. Her neck broke as she hit the floor and the impact killed her instantly.


	19. The Mystery Begins

Tommy smiled as he watched his boyfriend, Michael walk over to him, with glasses of champagne in his hands. The five feet eleven inch tall man had the shoulders of a linebacker but needed them for his job as lead supervisor at the farm. He handled all of the day to day tasks for Lily and made sure that everything went smoothly when his boss wasn't there.

"Here you go," Michael said as he handed him one of the glasses.

"Where have you been?"

"I had to step out to talk to call the farm and talk to James. One of the horses is about to deliver her foal. I told him to call the vet and I will be leaving here soon to join him. How was your dance with Dr. Simmons?"

"Fitz cut in halfway through it. Hopefully they will get their act together but I have my doubts, especially given her attitude towards Grant."

"Your brother is a good guy; he just had some bad breaks with your parents and Christian and made some bad choices. Then you have that bitch ex of his causing trouble for him and Skye, he isn't having an easy time of it lately. I can see why Dr. Simmons is angry at him but when it starts to affect a friendship that they were just starting to be fixed again, maybe she needs to let Fitz have his opinion of Grant and not act like he has to have the same one she has."

Before Tommy could respond a woman's scream echoed throughout the room. The two men ran from the room and to the front of the crowd that had gathered to find Louise being held by their father, she was visibly shaking.

"That poor girl, I wanted her away from Grant and our family but nobody deserves that," Travis said quietly.

"What happened, dad?"

"Somebody threw Sue off of the top of the stairwell and the impact broke her neck and killed her."

A wave of grief and sadness just about engulfed him as he thought about the younger sister that he would never get to know. He had lied to his biological father, Tommy had cared that Sue was his sister but hadn't liked what she was doing to Grant and Skye.

The sight of Allison Ridgefield screaming out in grief and trying to physically attack Grant brought Tommy out of the daze he had been in. He rushed over and pulled the blond off of his brother, taking her out of the room.

"He killed my best friend!"

"Shut up! We don't know who killed her yet and if you act like that again, I will sedate you."

Ally saw that Tommy would do what he said and wisely shut up.

Lily stood with Cal, Coulson and May at the bottom of the stairs as they watched as a detective with the Winston Salem Police Department examined the scene. The way Sue's neck had twisted upon impact had made the four people that were used to seeing things like this cringe.

"I know you didn't do this Cal because you were standing beside me upstairs but whoever did that had to be pretty strong. They will want to point the finger at Grant because of their history; we need to know where he and Skye were," Lily stated, watching as Patrick McCallister came down the stairs and took in the sight of his daughter's body.

"As much as I hate to say this, Ward didn't kill that girl. I saw the argument he and Skye had with Sue and that they came back into the room together and he didn't leave her side even after Louise found the body," May said.

"I hate to ask this, Lily but is Patrick capable of murdering his daughter? He is too calm right now."

Lily turned from watching Patrick before facing Cal, who had asked the question.

"All I can sense is his grief. He might not be showing it outwardly but his heart is breaking right now."

Skye stood there in Grant's arms, watching from a distance as Tommy kept an eye on Allison. It had been everything she could do not to use her power against Ally when the woman had attacked Grant. She glanced over and saw Kyle standing beside his grandfather with Elena in his arms and felt something from the boy that scared her. She knew Kyle had been working out with Grant and had developed some significant shoulder muscle in a short period of time and given how tiny Sue was and the fact that Kyle was the same height as his father; he could have easily thrown her over the railing in an effort to protect his family.

"Could Kyle have done this, Grant?"

"I don't know, Skye. He was pissed as hell the day she threatened us and he sees you as a mother figure. I need to talk to Kyle and find out where he was at the time Sue was killed."

Judge Monroe walked over to them and stood by them, watching all of them with inquisitive eyes.

"I think given the circumstances, I will allow you to go back to the hotel room you were staying in for tonight and have the police come and talk to you in your room in the morning. After that, you can head back to the farm," he calmly stated.

"I know they will want to speak to me because of my past history with Susan and my ties to Hydra. I would assume that my father has told you about my mother?"

"Yes, he did. I am taking care of it. The problem is over."

Grant felt a chill fill him at the older man's words and took in the strong shoulders of the judge and wondered would Lily's godfather really have done something like that to protect her family.

Mack stood with Kara, Fitz and Jemma as the four of them watched the police coming up and down the stairs and questioned the various people that had attended the party. They were also talking to hotel employees, particularly the ones who handled the surveillance cameras.

"Maybe they can go on and arrest Ward for this because we all know that he did it," Jemma commented.

"Shut up!"

Fitz and Kara's voices rang out at the same time. Mack grimaced in disappointment at Jemma and knew that she had just ruined any progress that she and Fitz had made tonight.

"Grant didn't do this. He has been with Skye all night long and she wouldn't be still with him right now if he had killed his ex in front of her," Kara snapped at Jemma before walking away.

"Jemma, you need to stop or you are going to lose him for good," Mack whispered quietly in her ear before following Kara.

"I'm sorry, Fitz. I shouldn't have said that. The thought of him being free makes me crazy. He bloody hurt you and took away who you were. The only thing that healed you was some magical connection with his aunt."

"Jemma, I don't think you should contact me on Skype for a while. I can't listen to the same stuff everyday anymore."

Fitz walked away from her and tears filled Jemma's eyes as she watched him leave the room. A comforting hand touched her shoulder and she turned to see Grant and Skye standing there. The one who had touched her had been Grant and not Skye, who looked just as angry with her as Fitz, Mack and Kara had been.

"Leave me alone, Ward. This is your fault."

"Yes it is but you need to ask yourself a question."

"What's that?"

"Do you really want to lose Fitz? That is what is starting to happen because you expect him to feel the same way that you do about everything and that isn't going to happen."

"Did you kill Sue?"

"No. Skye and I had a confrontation with her right before it happened and then we walked away. When we left her, she was still alive."

"Now I have to go and talk to Fitz and see if we can fix the damage done to our friendship."

"If he tells you to leave him alone then you will do it," Skye stated, firmly.

Grant and Jemma both felt the tremble beneath them and looked at each other before the former went over to the woman he loved and took her in his arms. He then saw two men walking over to them, everything about them screaming that they were cops.

"Baby, you need to calm down. There are two police officers that want to talk to us and we don't need you shaking the ground around them," Grant whispered in Skye's ear.

Jemma waited until the two of them started to talk to the police officers before slipping away from them and taking the elevator to the room that Fitz was staying in.

Ten minutes later, Coulson and May watched as Skye walked away from where the police were talking to Grant before walking over to her.

"I know he didn't do this but you shouldn't be caught up in this, Skye. You need to come back to Shield where we can protect you," Coulson stated, ignoring May's groan of agitation.

"Oh like you protected me when you abandoned me in that cabin for 'real' Shield to come after me?"

"Skye…"

"No, Coulson. I'm talking now. Lily and Louise, while not being inhuman like I am, know about controlling power that was born inside of them. They have helped me more than those damn gloves Jemma gave me and I am gaining control over my power. But why do I think this is about my relationship with Grant and not my powers?"

"Skye, his involvement with that woman has gotten you pulled into the middle of a murder!"

Coulson's raised voice turned every eye in the room on them. He glanced over at the young woman he loved like a daughter and saw the anger burning in her dark eyes.

"I love you like a father, Coulson but you need to stop right now. I love Grant and I always have. I pushed it down inside after finding out he was Hydra because it hurt too much to deal with it and so I let anger take over instead of the hurt and pain I was in over his betrayal. I let May teach me how to internalize it because it made it easier and guess what; I ended up with fractures in my arms for my trouble. The best thing for me is to stay away from Shield and make my life with Grant and his son who, despite the fact that I am ten years older than him, I love as if he was my son. If you love me, you will accept my choice and let me be happy."

Skye walked away from Coulson and May, who glared at her longtime friend before walking away herself.


	20. Friends Close, Enemies Closer

Kara was watching as Grant talked to the police and worried that they would try to pin Sue's murder on him without bothering to investigate. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that Bobbi coming to stand beside her in a floor length red evening gown with spaghetti straps crisscrossing her back and going down her shoulders to the sweetheart neckline.

"Do you think he did this?"

"No I don't," she shot back.

"Kara, what's wrong?"

"Did you think that I would never figure out that you were the one to turn me over to Hydra?"

"Kara…"

"Don't bother trying to justify what you did, Bobbi. I don't give a damn that it was for the greater good. That only works if I had agreed to being captured and not somebody forcing me into it. I still have to live with the scars of what Hydra, Melinda May and you did to me. Dr. Zabo is working on fixing my face now that Fitz helped me get rid of that damn mask but that doesn't make the emotional scars go way," she bit out. "Don't worry, I didn't tell Grant that I am starting to remember because my surrogate big brother has more important things to worry about."

Kara stormed off past Lance Hunter, who was glaring at Bobbi.

"Were you the reason that Kara was taken by Hydra?"

"Lance, I had to do things that I am not proud of in order to make Hydra believe that I was one of them. What happened to Kara was one of them."

"You need to apologize to her, not just for her but for yourself too. That's the only way that this will end without bloodshed. Grant Ward will try to kick your ass and most and likely mine because I will go after him when he does."

Lance walked away from his ex-wife and over to the bar to get a drink. Bobbi left the ballroom and down the hall to the Skywalk. She watched the traffic pass by on the streets of Winston Salem. She was so lost in her thoughts that she started when Coulson walked up beside her.

"The both of us seem to be doing a very good job of pissing people off tonight."

"Kara figured out that I was the one responsible for her being taken by Hydra. I stand there and let May talk shit about her when I am the one who deserves it. I was trying to do something for the greater good and messed up another agent's life in the process. I don't know if I can do this anymore Coulson?"

"Bobbi, we are spies. As much as I have been sitting on my moral high horse this past year, I have lost sight of the fact that telling lies and keeping secrets is part of the game. I condemn Grant Ward for being Hydra and calling him a murderer but didn't have a problem when he did the same thing for me and Shield. All of us are murders and for us to sit in judgment over him only makes all of us look like hypocrites."

"Is this change of attitude about Skye?"

"Yes, she is so angry with me for continuing to condemn him for things that we are all guilty of," he stated.

"I bet it had to be hard as hell for May to tell the police that Ward didn't kill his ex, especially given how quickly it would get him out of Skye's life."

"The catch to that is that when they saw the surveillance footage and found that he didn't kill Sue and that May lied, she would face perjury charges. Besides Skye was with Grant at the time and we would lose her to him even more than we already have."

Coulson walked away leaving Bobbi to her own thoughts, not sure if he had helped her figure out what to do in regards to Kara and Lance.

Melinda felt like somebody was glaring at her and looked around the room to find Louise Ward watching her. She knew that in a physical fight the woman wouldn't present much of a challenge but Louise's magical abilities would give her an advantage.

"You might want to stay away from Louise, Agent May," Lily commented as she walked over to where Melinda was standing.

"Am I correct in assuming that she was the one who cast the spell that slammed me into the wall?"

"Yes, you are. She wants a piece of you so bad and all of it because you hurt her little brother. He was her baby for his first three years and followed her wherever she went until that rabid bitch sent her to boarding school. She didn't even wait until after Louise had been gone twenty four hours before Milly beat that baby with a hairbrush until his legs were covered in bruises and a cut on his thigh that took a long time to heal. It even left a scar."

Melinda closed her eyes in horror as she remembered seeing that scar on Ward after one of their hookups. She now regretted telling him that everybody had trauma at some point during his imprisonment.

"Skye did the world a favor, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did."

"How come Ward's brothers and sister aren't as affected by what their mother did?"

Lily ruefully laughed before turning to face Melinda, a look of derision in her dark brown eyes.

"What makes you think they weren't affected? One of the things that my family does best is pretenses and putting on an act to deflect from what is really happening to us; Christian can't stay faithful to his wife and tries to manipulate others into doing his dirty work for him. Louise was a recovering alcoholic because I am pretty sure she has gone back to drinking to deal with finding out what her mother did to Grant and that the rest of us kept it from her. Tommy developed a pretty significant addiction to heroin in his teens and overdosed three times before his senior year in high school. After an entire summer of rehab, he fought hard to get his act together and did what was needed to be done to get into college and med school. I hope nothing happens to make him start that shit up again because we might lose him this time."

Melinda felt like throwing up at the affects their mother's abuse had on Grant Ward's family. No wonder he didn't know how to deal with other people and made some pretty crappy choices because his family was seriously fucked up.

"Coulson knew and didn't stop what was happening. All of this was in Grant's shield file," Lily said, delivering a final blow meant to emotionally wound the usually stoic specialist.

May didn't say a word; she walked away as Lily grinned to herself, knowing that she had just driven a wedge between Coulson and May. Maybe the woman would stop being his faithful little soldier since Hydra had come out of hiding.

"You did that on purpose," Travis commented with a grin as he walked over to his little sister.

"You're damn right. The reason I won't let Louise kick Melinda May's ass like she wants to is because knocking Shield off of their self-righteous high horse works so much better."

"Keep your friends close, your enemies closer," Travis smiled deviously.

"Exactly," Lily stated.


	21. A New Rivalry Begins

Melinda walked through the remaining party guests that hadn't been interviewed by the police, looking for Coulson. She was so caught up in her quest that her skills to notice everything around her failed because Louise came walking up to her. She gave off the appearance of mingling at a social function the way her family had trained her from birth, only the fury in her brown eyes showed what she was really feeling.

"Did my aunt deliver some harsh truths to you about your precious Coulson?"

May could hear the disdain dripping from the other woman's voice and decided it was time to deal with the issue between them.

"You know, your baby brother wasn't the innocent party in what happened between the two of us."

"Oh, I know that, Grant was being a manipulative little shit but you used him to take your mind off of your own issues. According to Grant, you punched the hell out him for cheating on you when he had been under the mind control of an Asgardian sorceress and acted like you didn't know about his feelings for Skye."

"I know that as much as you can hurt me with your magic, I can do the same to you physically so a fight is out of the question. So I guess we are going to have to just hate each other's guts."

"I don't have a problem with that because in my mind, there is no way that we can make this even between us. You don't have a brother or a son that I can throw myself at like a dog in heat, blame him for what happens when he is taken over by aforementioned sorceress, put a nail through his foot and fracture his larynx after he does something to piss me off. Isn't it just a tad hypocritical for you to come down on someone about betrayal because didn't you do the same thing to Coulson for Fury? I mean, yours wasn't nowhere near as bad as what Grant did but to me 'betrayal is betrayal' no matter how big or small it is or who does it. Hell even Skye betrayed all of you for that Miles idiot; her words, not mine," Louise's voice had turned vicious and quieter with every word she said.

Coulson happened to be walking by to hear what Louise had said and grabbed May's arm before she could punch her. He could see Ward's sister smirking at May and knew that the coming spell would be one that would cause May a great deal of pain.

"Stop it, both of you! I know that you two dislike each other but do you really want to embarrass Skye and Grant by having a brawl in front of all of these people?"

Louise didn't say a word; she just walked over to the bar and downed the shot of vodka the bartender gave her a few seconds later.

"Lily was right, she is drinking again," May quietly commented.

"Why were you ready to punch her one minute and yet feel sorry for her now?"

"She needs someone to take out her anger on and the person in her family that she really wants to hurt is dead so I guess I'm it. She actually does hate me for what happened with me and Ward so it was an easy choice for her," May said, before turning to face Coulson. "Phil, did you know the full extent of the abuse that Millicent Ward put her children through? Did you know about the effects it had on Ward's other siblings?"

He swore under his breath and knew that Lily Ward was responsible for the coming confrontation between him and May.

"Yes, I did," he stated.

"So you knew just how bad the abuse was and let the rest of us treat him like hell? I actually told him that 'everybody has trauma' acting like his abuse claims were just an excuse. I saw the scar on his thigh from when she beat him at three years old. I thought it was from an old injury during a mission and not a child abuse scar."

"His file was classified to 'Directors eyes only' by Fury. The two of us are the only ones who knew what had happened to him and I didn't find out until after he was arrested."

"Are you telling me that Director Fury knew about every bit of abuse that Ward took from his family and Garrett and didn't do a damn thing to stop it?"

"Melinda…"

"Don't Melinda me! You let us add more to the abuse while we held him in that cell. Lily Ward is right; we shouldn't have been in charge of his confinement because we couldn't be objective."

Melinda walked away from Coulson to find Skye standing there, her arms crossed over her chest and disappointed at him before she turned and walked over to where Ward was standing. He watched as the girl he loved like a daughter turn her back on him and moved closer to someone he still felt wasn't good enough for her.

Skye walked over to Grant and took his hand, laying her head on his shoulder. The night that had started out so wonderful had turned into a nightmare and all she wanted to do was go up to their room and sleep.

"Can we go up to the room now?"

Grant kissed her gently before glancing over at where his father was standing. The older man was talking to the lead detective; a Hispanic woman in her mid-thirties, about when they could talk to Kyle about what he might have seen when Sue was killed.

"Dad is talking to Detective Ramirez about when they can talk to Kyle. I don't want them doing it during the party and since he is under eighteen, a parent or guardian has to be with him so it has to either be me or Aunt Lily."

"Why are they obsessed with talking to Kyle?"

"They watched the security footage and saw that he was in the hallway when Sue was killed. He wasn't the one that did it but he saw who it was. He isn't talking."

"I was someone he knows and cares about."

"Yes."

"You were with me, I saw Tommy standing inside the room when we walked back inside. Mack was with Kara, my father was with Lily and Michael was on his cellphone in the hallway," Skye stated, going down the list of all the men that Kyle would protect before her dark eyes went wide. "Grant…"

"We will talk about this up in the room and let Lily handle this," he said softly.

Skye felt her stomach turn at the thought of Travis Ward killing Susan and could see him doing it. He had to have hated Susan's father with a passion for sleeping with his wife and being Thomas' biological father. Then to have Susan causing trouble for the son that he had just gotten back into his life. He was also solidly built like Grant was and in great shape for a man his age.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Grant taking her hand and started at the contact before noticing that Kyle had walked over to them.

"Come on, we are going up to the room and having a conversation about what you saw tonight," Grant said to his son, his tone showing that he wasn't in the mood for an argument.

Kyle wordlessly followed his father and Skye to the elevator as he glanced around the room and fear filled him as he noticed the person he had saw kill Sue. He wanted to help the police and tell them what he had seen but also didn't want to see the person that had done it go to jail either. It would ruin things for his father and the rest of their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am ending the murder mystery soon but the rivalry between May and Louise will get even nastier as the latter's alcohol problem gets even worse. It looks May might have met her match in Ward's sister, who knows her brother's flaws but is on a mission to make up for not being there for him when he needed her.


	22. The Nightmare

Grant was pulled out of a deep sleep to the sounds of Skye, screaming his name in her sleep. She was trashing around and sobbing. He sat up and had to dodge her fists swinging out at him.

He heard the knock on his room door and heard Lily's voice through the door, worry and sadness in her voice.

"Grant, let me in."

Grant stood up, pulled on a pair of sleep pants before going over to the door. He opened the door to the sight of his aunt in tears. She threw herself into his arms, hugging him as if verifying he was there before rushing over to Skye.

"Skye, you need to wake up sweetie. It's just dream. He is right here with you."

It took a few moments before her eyes opened and she gasped for breath, her eyes filled with pure terror.

"Coulson killed him, Lily! Just heartlessly murdered Grant in cold blood!"

"Skye, it was just a dream. Grant is right here with you."

Grant pushed down his curiosity over what had caused her to have a nightmare like that.

Skye got up out of the bed and rushed over to Grant, hugging him and sobbing into his chest. She wouldn't let him go.

"What the hell is going on here, Aunt Lily?"

"Skye had a nightmare that you had rejoined Hydra and killed a woman that Coulson was in love with. He went after you and followed you and Fitz to some planet that they called Maveth. Coulson followed you there and when he got the chance, killed you in a cruel manner."

"Skye, it wasn't real. It was just a dream," Grant whispered before kissing her gently on the forehead.

"It felt so real and for some reason, I was kissing and trying to make myself be happy with this guy named Lincoln. He was cute but it felt wrong," she said, still shaking as the memory of her dream continued to haunt her.

Grant gritted his teeth at the mention of another guy and felt his very well-maintained control start to snap.

"Grant, it was just a dream," Lily said reassuringly to her nephew. "Even if Lincoln existed, the two of you are together and he doesn't stand a chance in hell of breaking you up."

Lily heard a knock on the door and left Skye and Grant's room long enough to answer, hoping she could chase away who it was pretty quickly. She swore under her breath at the sight of Phil Coulson standing there.

"I need to talk to Skye."

Lily stepped out into the hallway, pushing him out there in the process, tightened the belt on her robe and faced off with the man she really was beginning to dislike.

"Skye had a very bad nightmare and needs to rest; she doesn't need to be pulled into Shield's bullshit. Let her calm down and get some more sleep. You can talk to her in the morning."

Lily didn't let Coulson respond before she went back into the Penthouse and closed the door.

"May was right; she has become too caught up with that damn family. I have to get her out of her and back to the Playground."

 

Later that night, May walked into the hotel's gym and stopped short at the sight of Louise wearing a pair of yoga pants and tank top, throwing punches at the punching bag. It seemed there was more to the oldest Ward child than just her magical ability.

"Are you going to stare at me all night?"

May expected the anger but not the resigned tone to Louise's voice.

"I am guessing that your fighting abilities are a well-kept secret that only certain people know about."

Louise stopped punching the bag and turned to face Melinda, not lowering her guard but relaxing her stance enough to show the other woman that she wasn't considered a threat.

"Let's just say that Christian found out what I was capable of the hard way. I stomped the piss out of him for daring to try and have Grant charged as an adult. My mother tried to slap me for daring to beat up my brother and I gave her something to think about when I used a well-placed silent spell on her."

"Are you trying to intimidate me because it isn't going to work," Melinda stated.

"No, I'm just proving a point. I couldn't protect my little brother the way he needed me to when it mattered the most but now that he is back in my life, I won't let you or any member of Shield treat him however you please. It doesn't work that way, anymore. I won't hesitate to fight back just as dirty as all of you have whether it is in a physical fight or with my magic."

Before May could respond, a handsome man with blond hair, a lean frame and as tall as Grant stepped into the room. He went over to the treadmill and started his workout.

The older woman left the room and Louise started to punch and kick the bag again. She could feel the man that had walked in watching her as he ran on the treadmill but was trying to ignore him.

"What are you staring at," Louise fiercely growled at him.

"I was just admiring how good you look doing that," the man commented.

Louise sensed that he wasn't telling her the complete truth and this guy looked too young to be hitting on her. She quickly left the room and over to the elevator, pushing the button for the top floor.

'I better tell Lily about him because something isn't right."

 

Grant and Skye were lying on the bed in their hotel room, her head lying on his chest as he rubbing her back gently. She was still shaking a bit from her dream but wasn't as bad as when she had awakened from the dream.

"Do you think alternate universes are real, Grant?"

"Given the things we have seen, it is possible?"

"Coulson killed you in my dream. He had a robotic hand and he crushed your chest. I don't want to see him for a while."

"Nobody is going to force you to see her, Skye."

He kissed her on the head and held her tightly to him. As he held her, Skye sat up and then turned to lean down to tenderly kiss him.

"All I want to do is forget, Grant. Help me do that."

He kissed her again and groaned as she ran her fingers through his hair. All they knew in that moment was each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not very good at smut and my attempts at it have been really bad, so I am going to end the chapter here. I will get back into the storyline but I felt that I needed to write this. Grant Ward deserved better. The writers need a reality check and they might get it in March. It couldn't happen to a nicer group of jerks, if it does.
> 
> I am very disgusted at the mid-season finale and hate what they did to Ward. Any story I write will be AU from now on. I will never write stories where Skye is with Lincoln because I really feel like our ship was destroyed for that boring piece of garbage. Luke and Chloe have all the chemistry of watching paint dry and it is like watching siblings kiss.


	23. Skye's Had Enough

The next morning, Kyle stepped out of his room in the penthouse suite that his Aunt Lily, Dad and Skye were sharing with him and sat down at the table. He pulled out his phone and started to text his aunt Lisa. Ever since finding out that she had only sent him to live with his dad because of the prophecy and his part in it, they had been talking again; although there was still some tension between him and the woman that had raised him.

_**‘I saw who killed Sue but if I tell anybody, my family will be in trouble. I don’t know what to do, Aunt Lisa.’** _

_**‘Kyle, your Aunts are two of the most powerful witches that have come out of that curse. It was for a reason. They are needed to train the baby that is coming. They will protect your family.’** _

Before Kyle could responds, the door to his dad’s and Skye’s room opened and his father stepped out, looking exhausted. He had heard Skye screaming and had overheard the nightmare she’d had. It had him worried because Coulson and Melinda May still wanted Skye to come back to Shield and wouldn’t put it past them to take her away, especially if they found out about exactly what the prophecy was.

“Good morning son.”

“Good morning, Dad. You look like you need to sleep a little bit longer.”

“I have to go back to the farm with Michael after we talk to the police. Judge Monroe is being very understanding but I still need to finish my sentence and keep on my best behavior. He could easily throw me in jail where I belong. The only reason I am getting this chance to still have some freedom while doing my time is because my last name is Ward and nobody wants to take on Aunt Lily,” Grant resignedly commented as he sat down on the plush white couch next to his son.

“Dad, she is trying help you in the best way she can after finding out that Grandma sold you to that Garrett asshole.”

Grant turned stern eyes onto his son at the word he had just used and watched as the boy’s face turned red as he realized what had come out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I know how you feel about me cussing. It is just that is the only way I can describe that man. He took money for making your life a living hell,” Kyle explained.  “Yes, you made some very bad choices but there were extenuating circumstances. Now if you go back to Hydra and start killing people again, that’s on you.”

“I’m just glad that I was able to talk Kara out of going after Morse for her part in what happened to her; for a time she wasn’t very stable and wanted to kidnap and torture her in retaliation.”

Kyle gaped at his father in shock because he hadn’t heard about this. He heard his father curse under his breath.

“You didn’t know about that? I thought with your love of eavesdropping, you would have overheard mine and Kara’s conversations about that.”

“No, I think it was while I was grounded for being hateful to Agent Simmons.”

Father and son continued to talk, unaware of Skye sitting there inside the door to hers and Grant’s room, her fists clenched in anger. The room started to shake as she processed the new piece of information about what had happened to Kara. As she stepped out of the room, wearing a white hotel robe over her pajamas, Skye saw that both Kyle and Grant were watching her warily. Her temper was on full blown boil and it was taking everything she could to control the slight vibrations shaking the room.

“How was Bobbi responsible for what happened to Kara?”

Grant cringed at the hardness in her voice. The only time he had heard her like that had been when she had come to see him in Vault D. He had hated being the recipient of that look and knew that if he told her the truth, Bobbi Morse might want to be careful.

“Grant Douglas, I want you to remember what you promised the first time I came to see you in Vault D because what you say next determines whether or not we share a room when we get back to the farm.”

He knew that she was serious with that statement and quickly told her how Bobbi, while undercover with Hydra, had given up the location of the safe house where Kara had been hiding after the fall of Shield. How she had even watched some of the things Daniel Whitehall had put Kara through and hadn’t done a thing to rescue her when they had pulled Jemma out of Hydra.

The sound of the bedroom door slamming was all that Grant heard before he got up and followed her.

“Wish me luck, son.”

“Good luck, dad. You’re going to need it; although I wouldn’t want to be Agent Morse or Director Coulson right now, especially if he knew about it.”

“I agree, kid,” he stated. “I want that essay done for your performing arts school application before you and Elena do anything else. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir.”

Kyle sat aside his phone that he had still been holding onto and lifted up his laptop. He started to type at a steady pace. He focused on that instead of the hell that was about to break loose. When Skye was that mad, there was going to be hell to pay.

* * *

Lily sat with Louise down in the restaurant of the hotel, eating breakfast and waiting for the young man that her niece had told her about. As soon as she had seen the man’s face in Louise’s subconscious, she had known who he was.

“There he is.”

Lily looked in the direction that Louise was staring at and felt her heart sink. It was the man from Skye’s nightmare, Lincoln Campbell. If Skye or Grant saw him, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Lily had a feeling that Cal knew why the man was here and it was time to start getting some answers to the secrets he kept so buried deep, her powers couldn’t access them.

“Samantha Louise, I am going to talk to Cal; keep an eye on Mr. Campbell and don’t let him anywhere near Skye.”

“Don’t call me that, I hate my first name.”

“I know and that is why I said you full name. That is how important it is that Lincoln Campbell be kept away from Skye for the time being.”

Suspicion filled Louise’s dark eyes as she glared at her Aunt.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Skye had a nightmare last night about an alternate universe where she is in a relationship with that young man and Coulson murdered your brother in a very cruel manner.”

Louise saw it from the connection she had to her Aunt and while every part of her wanted to kick Phil Coulson’s ass, she knew that this Coulson shouldn’t pay for the crimes of another version of him. She got up and walked over to Lincoln, who had sat at one of the tables a few feet away. She sat down across from him, a polite smile that her Gramsy had taught her to use.

“I want to apologize about my attitude last night. I was not in the best of moods,” Louise sweetly said, inwardly groaning at how fake she sounded.

“I heard about the murder that took place at you family’s party so I can understand that, Miss Ward.”

“Call me, Louise. Miss Ward makes me sound old and ancient.”

“I’m Lincoln; it’s nice to meet you.”

Louise realized that the man in front of her was very handsome but wouldn’t be swayed by his charm. He was at least ten years younger than her.

“Nice to meet you, Lincoln, now do you want to tell me why you are following me?”

Lincoln gaped at her before grinning at her. His smile lit up his face.

“I wasn’t being very subtle, was I?”

“No, you weren’t. It also doesn’t help that you also conveniently showed up at breakfast the same time as I did.”

“I was ordered to follow you because my Boss wants information on your brother’s girlfriend.”

“So why don’t you follow Skye and not me?” Louise couldn’t understand why following her would be important to this man’s boss.

“Your brother’s skills would make it very difficult to get close to her. Grant Ward could kick my ass despite my own abilities. Even my boss knows from their own sources that getting close to Skye isn’t going to be easy.”

“I know that Cal is the one telling your boss everything,” Louise smirked as Lincoln started and knew that her wild guess had just been confirmed.

She leaned closer and whispered quietly in his ear, enjoying the shiver as her breath hit his skin.

“My aunt Lily is on her way to have a conversation with Cal and she has her ways of finding out what she wants. She is the most powerful of the witches in our family that has been born.”

“You’re witches,” Lincoln’s voice came out in a high squeak.

“Yep, so you can imagine if Skye has the latest witch in our family curse and combined with her inhuman DNA, how powerful that child will be?” Louise then stood up and walked away, smirking wickedly and thinking, ‘I wonder how fast he contacts his boss.’

* * *

Skye went storming down the hall, Grant right behind her as she made it to the room that Bobbi Morse was sharing with Lance Hunter and Jemma. She started to pound on the door, almost shaking it off of its frame until Jemma answered the door, wearing a hotel robe.

“What’s wrong, Skye?”

“Where’s Morse?”

Jemma took in the tightness in her friend’s voice and knew that something had happened to make Skye very angry at Bobbi.

“She’s still asleep. Lance never came back to the room last night. I think they had a fight or something.”

“Or maybe he found out that Bobbi was the reason that Kara was taken and brainwashed by Hydra.”

Jemma was shocked at Skye snapping at her and took a step back.

“That can’t be true, Skye.”

“I overheard a conversation between Grant and Kyle and before you go saying that ‘Ward is a liar and we can’t trust him’, he knows that lying to me isn’t a very good idea,” Skye fiercely stated before storming past Jemma and into the hotel suite.

“Get out here, Morse!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this story, Skye has gotten to know Kara and thinks of her as a friend so in this case, she is going to be very pissed off on her behalf. 
> 
> I know I hinted at a Lincoln and Louise hookup but I don’t know if I will go that route. I might do a time jump in a few chapters and get into the Christmas season.
> 
> Still mad as hell about the mid-season finale but plan to take it out on giving Grant Ward and Skyeward the ending they should have had. I am also thinking of solving the murder mystery pretty quickly and move onto putting the focus back on Skyeward.


	24. No Going Back

Bobbi heard Skye calling out her name and sleepily walked to the door of her room and opened it to see her former teammate standing there. The Inhuman had her arms crossed and was glaring at Bobbi in a manner that fit the term ‘if looks could kill’.

“What’s going on?”

“I know about what you did to Kara, Morse. If I hear the phrase for the greater good come out of your mouth, the end result won’t be pretty,” Skye heatedly said.

“Skye, there is a very good explanation for what happened,” Bobbi said calmly.

“I always told myself that Shield was better than Hydra because they didn’t leave a man behind. I now see that I was a naive and self-righteous idiot,” Skye bit out before turning to see Coulson and May standing at the door. “I’m done with Shield! If you try to force me back there, I will use my powers on you and file kidnapping charges.”

The room continued to shake at her rage but when Grant tried to go over to her to calm her, May ran in front of him.

“This is your fault; stay away from her or a fractured larynx will be the least of what I do to you.”

Lily, who had also come rushing into the room, with Louise and Cal right behind her, tried to stop her niece from going on the attack but didn’t succeed.

“Get your damn hands off of my brother, bitch!”

A wave of pure energy hit May and made her stumble, giving Louise time enough to punch her in the face. That was all it took for the two women to start a vicious fight where May, for once, wasn’t the one winning.

“Once I knock the both of them out, take Melinda and get her out of here. Shield is no longer allowed around any of my family’s properties. Any alliance that could have taken place is over and you can thank your bulldog for that,” Lily declared furiously. It seem like she wanted to join the fight but knew she had to be the rational one.

Coulson watches as May and Louise hit the floor, both passed out and went to pick up May while Cal picked up Louise, taking her out of the room.

Grant gently touched Skye on the shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Come on, let’s go to our room, the police will be there to talk to Kyle soon and he will wants us both to be there.”

“You aren’t taking her anywhere, Ward. She is coming back with us where she can get help in controlling her powers,” Coulson bit out harshly.

“No she’s not,” a female voice stated coldly.

Everybody in the room turned to see a beautiful Asian woman with scars on her face. Lincoln Campbell had been standing behind her before following Cal to check on Louise and help heal her injuries.

“Skye will be staying with Lily Ward continuing her training to control her powers, while Lincoln and I will be assisting.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Jiaying and Skye is one of my people. Shield has no place in making decisions for her because from what I just saw, she no longer wants any part of your organization,” she said, the final word was filled with disdain and hatred.

Skye pulled away from Grant and walked over to Coulson.

“I am done, Phil. I can’t do this anymore. My life is no longer with Shield; it is with Grant and his family.”  
Skye left the room with Grant, Lily and Jiaying following her. She didn’t say another word to Coulson or any of the others in the room, her rejection of him causing Phil physical pain.

“I guess we better start packing our things and leaving within the hour,” Coulson said to the two women remaining in the room. He then carried Melinda to her room and waited for the spell she was under to wear off.

“What happened?”

Phil smiled sadly down at her and took her hand in his.

“We’ve lost her, Melinda; for good this time.”

“Phil…”  
“Finding out about Morse and what she caused to happen to Kara and you trying to attack Ward was her breaking point. She’s done with Shield and seemingly all of us as well.”

Nothing was said between them as Melinda realized that she was right and hated that she had let her continued hatred of Grant Ward do her thinking. It had given Louise the right moment to have the fight the other woman had desperately wanted and Melinda had been out of her league for the first time in her life as a Shield agent.

 

 

Skye looked at Jiaying and Lincoln, ignoring the fear she felt at the sight of the latter. The man from her nightmare that she had been romantically involved with was a real person. She gripped Grant’s hand as he sat beside her on the couch, Kyle placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as he sat on her other side.

“We will discuss why you are here Jiaying but we would like to be at our family’s farm a couple of hours away. There are too many chances of the wrong people overhearing what is said,” Lily explained to the Inhuman.

“I agree. It is only the abilities that you and your niece possess that are keeping me from insisting that Skye come with me to my home to learn control. Lincoln will be putting her through what we call transition to help her control her powers for now. We will need somewhere to set up our equipment.”

“We could let them use the first home built on the property. It is in the woods and on the other side of the pond. It would have two bedrooms, a bathroom and a main room where Lincoln could set up his equipment. It has been kept in very good condition."

Travis, who had stepped into the suite with only Grant and Lily realizing it, had finished speaking and then walked over to Lily’s room where Louise was slowly coming to.

“I can’t believe you stopped me from kicking that bitch’s ass, Aunt Lily!”

“Samantha Louise Ward!”

Travis’ voice was stern at he looked down at his daughter, who was sitting up and ready to fight again.

“Daddy, it’s not fair. I was making her pay for everything she did to Grant.”

“You are acting like a toddler and not the 42 year old grown woman that you are. I understand the fact that you dislike the woman for what she did to your brother but don’t you think Grant is more than capable of fighting his own battles?”

“Yes sir. I have seen him train Kyle every morning; Grant is more than capable of handling Melinda May. She had to use dirty tactics to beat him when she fractured his larynx.”  
  
After hearing what Louise had said, Jiaying took in the man sitting beside her daughter and realized that her Daisy loved this man. She wouldn’t leave him or the teenage boy sitting on her other side. They were a family.

“I will need to look at the building and see if it fits our needs,” Lincoln commented as he watched Louise come out of the bedroom with her father.

He turned to see Grant Ward frowning at him and wondered what he done to make a man he had never been officially been introduced to give him that kind of look.

“My nephew is very close to his sister and he doesn’t like the fact that you are staring at her like a little boy with a crush on his babysitter,” Lily commented with a grin.

Lincoln turned red in embarrassment before leaving the room.

“That isn’t funny, Aunt Lily,” Louise said before following Lincoln out of the room.

“I would say that Lincoln isn’t the only one with a crush,” Jiaying commented.

She didn’t have a problem with this happening because there was something that Lily Ward didn’t know about her niece and nephews. It was another thing that would have to be discussed when they all returned to the Ward family farm.

Skye breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of Lincoln possibly falling for Louise instead of her because that nightmare had bothered her. She had thought about moving on and if Lily hadn’t come into the base that day and agreed to help her with her power, it very well could have happened just like that. Lincoln was cute and seemed to be a nice guy but after reconnecting with Grant and giving in to the feelings she had buried for him, there wasn’t any type of attraction for him at all.

 

 

Louise saw Lincoln leaning against the wall beside the elevators and walked over to him.

“I apologize for my Aunt Lily, sometimes she has a wicked sense of humor and a lack of a filter,” she said reassuringly.

“She wasn’t wrong,” Lincoln said. “Something about you makes me want to know why you can go from ready to rip someone head off one minute and making them feel better about themselves the next. Although in the case of Agent May, she really ticks you off.”

“She hurt my brother in a way that I can’t forgive.”

“Did she break his heart?”

“No, he slept with May even that he was in love with Skye and all because of a debt he thought he owed to a man that our mother paid to kidnap him when he was fifteen years old. Skye distracted Grant long enough for May to start a fight with him. To beat my brother, that bitch shot a nail through his foot and fractured his larynx. He might have been acting like a little shit during that but I take exception to a hypocrite who had just betrayed their team leader but on a lesser scale, attacking my brother and condemning him for things she herself is guilty over. I can’t stand self-righteous people.”

Lincoln was in shock at the venom in her voice and what she has revealed about her late mother.

“Your mother really paid someone to kidnap your brother?”

“Yep and if she hadn’t of been killed when our Boston home collapsed, she would have lost everything. Aunt Lily and my father were getting ready to file criminal charges.”

“She sounds like a nightmare to live with.”

Louise realized that she was revealing things that she wasn’t ready to talk about. He threw her off of her game and was really too young for her.

“I think I will go and pack my things. I have to fly to Boston tonight for a meeting. It was nice meeting you, Lincoln,” she said quickly before walking towards her room and going into it.

“If you are thinking about trying to date my sister, she isn’t the easiest person to get to know,” Grant said as he walked down the hall.

“I don’t know what to make of her. One minute, she seems to be a very nice person and the next ready to fight a war.”

“I will just say that our childhood wasn’t easy and the only thing that saved her at times was the fact that she was the oldest and the only girl,” Grant explained in a way that didn’t reveal too much because it was none of Lincoln’s business.

The two men walked back down to the suite and went inside to rejoin the conversation taking place between Lily and Jiaying.

 

 

Later that day, Skye and Grant were in one of the family’s many cars, a black Jeep Grand Cherokee, the latter driving it back to the farm. Kyle was riding back with Thomas and Michael so they could have some time together and he wanted to talk to Elena with chaperons that wouldn’t watch their every move like Grant and Elena’s mother did.

They had been on the road for 25 minutes when Skye saw Pilot Mountain coming up and the big knob that sat on top of it. A part of her wished they had taken the back roads instead of the main highway between Winston Salem and Cana but she knew that Grant had to back soon or he could be taken to prison for violating his house arrest.

“It is so beautiful through here. Maybe when you are done with your house arrest, the two of us and Kyle could come back to the State Park next summer and go camping.”

“I agree. I wouldn’t mind teaching Kyle some survival skills.”

“I think he would like that, Grant. Did he finish the essay for his application?”

“Yes, he did and Aunt Lily checked it over before we left the hotel. Now all he has to do is prepare for his audition.”

“I can’t believe that Christian’s bodyguard, James had killed Sue and Kyle saw what had happened and was scared to say anything.”

“The craziest part was finding out that both he and Sue’s father were members of Hydra. That Patrick had been ordered by Hydra to get close to Lily and kill her. He didn’t do it quick enough so James was ordered to kill Sue as incentive to make Patrick follow orders. I thought Lily was going to kill them both.”

“It was only your dad grabbing her that stopped her from casting a spell on them both in front of the police,” Skye said. “You knew that James would kill himself after he was caught?”

“It is what Hydra agents do when they have been caught because dead men can’t give away any information,” Grant explained.

“Was that why you attempted to kill yourself down in the Vault?”

“Partly and the guilt over what I had done took over, especially to Fitz. I am damn lucky he forgave me, although he is paying for it with Simmons.”

“I hate how it changed her, how it changed all of us and made all three of us do things we had never done before.”

“I have a feeling there will be changes made to how we hire people to work for us,”

“I think Lily will make sure of that.”

After that, they let the conversation stop and just enjoyed the scenery of the trip back to Cana and each others presence. They could think about the issues going around them later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter introduced Jiaying to the story and introduced some tension with Lincoln and Louise. The age difference will be an issue between them. With this story being an AU, Skye and Lincoln will not happen in any way shape or form, they each have a Ward sibling to deal with.
> 
> I ended the mystery of who killed Sue pretty quickly so I could move on to other storylines that I have ideas for and I started the storyline so long ago, I kind of lost inspiration for it and forgot any ideas I had.


	25. Gramsy's Will

Bursts of purple, orange and pink appeared as the sun rose one morning two weeks after the party from hell. Skye stood on the porch of the cabin watching as Grant repaired a fence in the pasture between the main house and the cabin. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of him. It was already hot and humid this early in the morning and his shirt was lying on the fence, sweat coating his upper body.

“Seeing him with his shirt off when we were staying with your father made me question my sexuality a lot of times,” Kara commented, handing Skye one of the mugs of coffee she was holding.

“Did anything ever happen with the two of you?”

“Not that I wasn’t tempted because he was kind and decent to me after what Whitehall and Bakshi did to me but nothing happened. He was recovering from where you shot him for about two months after San Juan and then he was involved with Sue.”

Skye rolled her eyes at the mention of the other woman’s name. Even dead, she was still being a thorn in their sides.

“I hope Lily can get Sue’s mother to drop the wrongful death suit she filed against the family.”

“Travis had the family attorney talk to her and she won’t back off despite finding out that it was her ex-husband’s ties to Hydra that led to her daughter’s death,” Kara stated before scowling in irritation. “Of course it doesn’t help that Allison is helping her.”

“What the hell were you thinking getting involved with her?”

“She didn’t act like this until she came here. Besides, I have moved on.” Skye shot a wicked grin at her friend because Kara and Thomas had some weird little flirtation going on that had led to Michael breaking up with Thomas and quitting his job. It also didn’t help that when Francesca’s will had finally been read, Grant had inherited the farm.

He was willing to help Grant when he had been the grandson of the farm’s owner but not when he became the boss.

* * *

 

_**Flashback- A Week Earlier ** _

_**Skye sat beside Grant and with the rest of the Ward’s as the family sat in the office at the farmhouse. Also there was Fitz and Kyle, who were both confused as to why they were there.** _

_**A short and full-figured African American woman in her late thirties to early forties sat at Lily’s desk. She pulled open a very expensive faux leather beige briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers in a light brown manila folder. “** _

_**Mrs. Ward asked me to play this DVD that she recorded on the day she died, it is legal and binding. We are still waiting on some more people that she has left something in her will to arrive.”** _

_**The door to the office opened and Phil Coulson, Melinda May and Jemma Simmons were led into the room.** _

_**“Why are they here, Mrs. Harris?” Skye could hear the anger in Lily’s voice as she spoke to the attorney and she felt the same way. She was still very angry at Coulson in particular.** _

_**"Your mother changed her will and included something in here for them. The delay in her will being read was so your mother’s last request could be fulfilled and she wants those three to hear it along with everybody else.”** _

_**“Fine but as soon as their business here is over, I want them off of this property.”** _

_**Lily could hear her family agreeing with her, especially her brother, Christian and Thomas who had been told about the confrontation the morning after the party.** _

_**“We are waiting on someone else before I can play the DVD; he has familial ties to Francesca Ward that her family never knew about.”** _

_**The door to the study opened and Tony Stark stepped into the room, his face turned red in anger at the site of Phil Coulson sitting there.** _

_**“You better have a good explanation for why you aren’t dead, Phil and don’t think I won’t tell Romanoff and Barton that you are still alive.”** _

_**Tony sat down beside Lily Ward on the couch she shared with her brother, glaring at Phil the entire time. “** _

_**Well played, mother,” Lily commented with a grin.** _

_**Skye looked over at the man she had loved at one time like a father and tried to feel some sympathy for him but couldn’t. She was too worn out and tired of the games that had been played by him and others that remained in Shield to really care anymore.** _

_**Then she saw Fitz stiffen as she sat on the other side of Kyle on the couch the two of them were sharing with Thomas. Skye could see Jemma giving him longing looks and knew deep down inside that there was going to be an argument before Shield left, with Jemma begging Fitz to come back.** _

_**“Mrs. Ward left a video to be played that will detail her wishes. This was made on the day of her death and it is legal and valid.”** _

_**Winifred Harris lifted the remote to the fifty inch TV that was hanging on the wall and turned it on.** _

_**Francesca’s face filled the entire screen as tears fell from her families’ eyes. The video started and everybody could see she was sitting in the chair of her house in the Hamptons.** _

_**“I, Francesca Stark Ward, being of sound mind anyway, have decided to make this video as my last will and testament.”** _

_**“For Tony Stark, given that you have just heard my last name, you have figured out that I am related to you. I was your father’s cousin. We lost touch after I married Noah Ward and had my first son: Travis. My attorney is in charge of giving you the location of a safety deposit box where I was entrusted with keeping safe a piece of his research he knew had to be kept safe. He knew that Hydra would never go after the wife of a United States Senator and this had to stay confidential.”** _

_**Winifred stopped the DVD and handed an envelope to Tony before resuming the DVD again.** _

_**“I’m sure you have noticed that Phil Coulson is still alive. Don’t go after him, Nicholas Fury and his little lap dog, Maria Hill will have the answers you seek. If they try to bullshit you, tell them to call Winifred and they will see the error of their ways.”** _

_**“As for Phil Coulson, you tried to sell my grandson! You were so wrapped up in making Shield a legitimate organization again and keeping Grant away from Skye that you failed to realize that I was the one you should have been making deals with. Even as sick as I was in my final days, I would have done everything to help you because I want Hydra to pay for what they did to my grandson. You already took care of John Garrett and I want to thank you for that but you and your little bulldog hurt my grandson and acted like you weren’t guilty of taking lives as well. That neither one of you hasn’t killed someone in the name of Shield. None of you had a damn problem with Grant being a trained killer until it wasn’t Shield he was killing for and didn’t give a damn to find out that my lousy excuse of a daughter-in-law sold her own child to John Garrett and Hydra. They kidnapped and brainwashed a boy desperate to be loved and caused even more damage. Colonel Talbot has informed that if he helps Shield anymore, he will lose everything he has worked hard for. My daughter will see to it that your ‘organization’ is torn to pieces before this battle is over.”** _

_**“Melinda ‘the Calvary’ May, I bet you would want to punch me for calling you that along with you being ‘Coulson’s lap dog’. You threw yourself at a man young enough to be your son with the promise of alcohol and meaningless sex. Then had the gall to act hurt when you found out that he wasn’t into you and did it only to take his mind off of someone else and because of orders from his kidnapper. Oh but that wasn’t your biggest crime. According to my sources, when that Asgardian witch came here and held my grandson under a spell that he couldn’t consent to anything that he said or did, when that person raped my grandson, you punched him and accused him of cheating on you. What kind of person does that? MY GRANDSON WAS RAPED!!!!!!” Nobody did a damn thing to get him the help he needed, it was all about your pain.”** _

_**Skye watched as Coulson had to pull May out of the room because she looked ready to pull the TV out of the wall. She could see Louise clenching her fists as she sat with Christian and Anna, ready to fight May again and Lily looked angry enough to help her this time.** _

_**“Now let’s move on to sweet Jemma Simmons. You threatened to kill my grandson for what he did to Fitz. Lily had that pod brought up from the ocean floor and examined by experts. From what they found out, that thing was supposed to float. Grant, with his job as a Specialist, would have known that as well as Mr. Fitz. It was also found that the flotation device was damaged by a barrage of gunfire. I didn’t find out how that happened but was there a situation where the inside of your plane was fired upon?” Skye remembered that day at the HUB when Grant had protected her from the bullets being fired into the BUS the day that Shield fell. She felt Grant take her hand and noticed Fitz starting to tremble as he realized what Ward’s grandmother was implying. That is was the attack on the plane that Victoria Hand had ordered that had damaged the med pod.** _

_**“I leave the amount of twenty million dollars to Leopold Fitz to help with his efforts to change the world for the better. It is yours to do with as you please. Don’t consider this a payoff for the damage my grandson caused you but a chance to change the world with your inventions.”** _

_**“The same amount will go to Jemma Simmons but only if she leaves my grandson alone and everybody agrees to let the bitterness go. Holding onto bitterness and anger only truly hurts the person holding on to it.”** _

_**“To my children, the both of you have been left 25 percent each of our family’s financial holdings. The other fifty percent will be divided equally between my four grandchildren and their children.” “** _

_**So to my granddaughter Louise, I leave my home in Boston and ten percent of the company. My darling girl, you have had to carry a lot of pain in your lifetime with being the oldest and not being able to help the abuse that was taking place in your home. Stop running away from love, there will be someone out there who will love you flaws and all.”** _

_**“Christian, you let your mother’s abuse take you to a scary place. It broke my heart to see you take out your hurt and anger on both Grant and Thomas. I leave my home in Georgetown to you and Anna as well as ten percent in the company. May it be God’s will that the both of you be able to fill it with the children the both of you want so badly. If you can’t, there are plenty of children out there in the world that need good homes. I’m pretty sure Skye would help you with that, given her own experiences.”** _

_**“My darling Grant, spending my final days with you was some of the best I have ever known. I missed you so much, my sweet boy. I wish I had known about what your mother had done and been able to find you before the damage had been done. I know about Kyle but I didn’t take custody of him because I didn’t want your mother anywhere around him. I kept an eye on him and in the box Winifred is about to give you is some old pictures and videos of him in various stages of his life. Your son is a gifted musician and will change the world, I can feel it. Both you and Kyle will each receive ten percent of my company and I am leaving the Farm to you, Grant and my penthouse on Park Avenue to Kyle.”** _

_**“Kyle, you are my first great grandchild and despite not being a part of your life, I did everything I could to make sure you had a wonderful one. I loved you from the first moment I held you when you were born. Your mother and Aunt both agreed with me that your grandmother didn’t need to be a part of your life. I love you very much and if you are ever apart of your father’s life, take care of each other. He needs to know that he can be a wonderful parent.”** _

_**“Thomas Jacob, I don’t care that you aren’t biologically my grandchild. In every way that counts, you are mine. I am so proud of you for fighting your demons and becoming a doctor. I worried about you when the truth of your addictions came out but you turned it around and accomplished so many wonderful things. I am leaving you ten percent of the company as well and our home at Bermuda Run if you decide to continue your career at Baptist Hospital.”** _

_**“Lily, the house in the Hamptons is yours. You love that house and all of the memories we made there with your father and Travis.”** _

_**“Travis, I know you enjoy helping Christian with his political career and also being close enough to your children to help them. I leave the mansion in Richmond where my parents lived to you. I also have one request, love your children and try to be the parent you should have been from the start. It is never too late to try and fix the damage we cause while we are all still on this earth.”** _

_**“Skye, you love my grandson when you have every right to hate him for the rest of his life. Despite the extreme circumstances behind his actions, he still did things that hurt a lot of people. I could see why he fell in love with you. The both of you have done a lot of things to hurt each other and for others to teach you to be emotionless and push any emotions to the side really didn’t help, all you were doing was avoiding instead of dealing with it. The same goes for you Anna, take care of and love Christian. He is going to need you.”** _

_**Skye watched as the video ended, tears falling down her cheeks and holding onto Grant, who had an arm around her shoulders. She could see how upset he was and gently kissed him on the cheek before following Tony Stark outside, who had left as soon as the video had ended.** _

_**She then watched as he and Coulson shared heated words, not sure what to make of a video mixed with words of love for her family along with delivering a massive fuck you to Phil Coulson and Shield.** _

* * *

Michael had quit as soon he had found out that Grant was his new boss. According to Thomas, the man had been hoping to inherit the farm for himself. Then again, he had just caught Kara and Thomas kissing and had broken up with him, leaving the farm that same day.

At the end of the summer, Grant, Skye and Kyle were moving to the main house and letting Kara and Thomas stay in the cabin along with Lincoln. Thomas would use the house in Bermuda Run when he needed to stay close to the hospital.

“Do you think Lily is mad at me for causing Thomas and Michael to break up?”

“Was what the two of you did right? But then again Love is love and you and Thomas have found some kind of connection despite showing a preference for same sex relationships in the past.”

Before Kara could respond, they noticed Lincoln come walking into the pasture where Ward was working. He held the fencing up while Grant nailed it together.

“That boy is a cutie and a complete sweetheart but I sense he has a secret from his past.”

“I agree but after that dream I had, I am planning on staying away from him. Besides I think he has a crush on Louise,” Skye grinned.

“She’ll tear that boy to pieces even with his powers, although it wouldn’t hurt her a bit to ease some tension with some hot sex.”

Daisy was about to respond when she heard heated voices coming down the pathway and turned to see her father and Jiaying arguing as they walked towards the main house. It stopped as soon as they both saw her standing there.

“Good morning,” they both said at the same time to Skye and Kara before continuing up the hill.

“I don’t trust her,” Kara whispered. “Grant doesn’t either.”

“I agree and my father knows more about her than what he is saying.”

The women continued their conversation until they saw Kyle coming from the building where everybody works out, Elena right behind him. They were adjusting their clothes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to add some intrigue to the story with the appearance of Tony Stark in the flashback. Expect all hell to break loose at the event that ended this chapter.
> 
> I decided to bring Lincoln in slowly into the story and there is a purpose of Grant inheriting the farm.
> 
> I based Gramsy on my grandmother in the fact that you will have hell to pay if you hurt her grandchildren.
> 
> I also based what she said in her will towards Shield on a quote that Martin Sheen's character said in one of the second season episodes of the West Wing. 'CJ, let me tell you something, don't ever, ever underestimate the will of a Grandfather. We're madmen, we don't give a damn; we got here before you and they will be here after you. We'll make enemies, we'll break laws, we'll break bones, but you will not mess with the grandchildren!


	26. Prophecies, New Friendship and Teenage Angst

"If they've been doing what I think they have, Adele is going to have a fit," Kara commented, gaping in shock at the two teenagers.

"She isn't the only one and given that Grant saw them, Kyle is going to be grounded for the rest of the summer," Skye commented ruefully as she watched her boyfriend say something to Lincoln before walking over to where his son and Elena were. His eyes were like hardened pieces of caramel candy and that wasn't a good sign.

"Kyle, go to the cabin and wait for me there," Grant said through gritted teeth before hearing the back door of the main house being thrown open.

He saw Adele standing there, glaring at her daughter.

"Elena Maria, go to your room."

Elena rushed into the house while Kyle took off towards the cabin; both teenagers' faces were red with embarrassment, the latter's combined with anger.

Grant waited for Adele to walk over to him, having a pretty good idea what she was about to tell him.

"Mr. Grant, I adore Kyle as if he was my own child but they are too young and things are moving too fast. I am going with Miss Lily to stay with her when she moves to the Hamptons right before school starts and Elena is going with me."

"I know, Aunt Lily already told me about it. Does Elena know?"

"I told her last night and I'm pretty sure that is what caused this to happen."

Adele then turned to walk into the house while Grant went down the hill towards the cabin. His long legs ate up the ground as he marched down the hill, up the steps onto the porch and past Skye and Kara without saying or looking at either woman.  The former quickly followed him inside, hoping to stop father and son from saying something they would regret.

Kara left the porch and walked over to where Lincoln was still standing in the pasture. She smiled at him before motioning for him to continue what he and Grant had been doing before.

"Grant might be awhile, let's see if we can get this done for him so he isn't out here all night," she said.

"As angry as both Grant and Elena's mom looked, I wouldn't want to be those kids right about now," Lincoln commented, wincing at the sound of raised voices coming from the cabin.

"I know what you mean and all of it is a bit of rebellion because Elena is moving to Sag Harbor before school starts."

"You couldn't pay me enough to be a teenager again," he stated with a shudder. "In fact, I don't think I ever want kids."

Kara went quiet and Lincoln had a strong feeling that having children was a sensitive topic for her.

"Hydra made sure I would never be able to have children. Whitehall had his surgeons perform a hysterectomy," she said softly with tears falling down her cheeks.

"Please don't tell anybody I told you that."

"I won't. That is nobody's business but yours but I'm sorry that happened to you."

The two of them continued to work on the fences and ignore the slamming of doors coming from inside the cabin.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking? Please God tell me you wore a condom!"

Kyle cringed at the anger in his father's voice before standing up from the piano bench.

"I'm not like you and my mom. I actually did something the two of you didn't do," Kyle snapped back at Grant, whose fists clenched in anger.

"Kyle, go to your room now!"

Kyle saw Skye standing behind his dad, a gentle hand on his shoulder. He quickly realized that he had gone too far and ran upstairs, slamming the door to his bedroom behind him. Skye took Grant's hand and pulled him out of the cabin, led him over to the golf cart and drove it down towards the back of the property.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You need to calm down and being around Kyle right now will make you do something you will regret."

"Skye…"

"The last time I saw you this angry was when you touched the Berserker Staff, Grant. As much as he did that to push your buttons, you can't hit him."

Skye watched as he slowly started to calm down and smiled as he reached over to place a hand on her cheek.

"Thank you. No matter what he does I don't ever want my son to fear me the way I did with my mother," Grant said gently. "Now do you want to tell me where we are going?"

Skye smirked at him as she continued to drive the golf course deeper into the property. The path got narrower and the area became more wooded before ten minutes later, Skye stopped the golf cart and turned it off.

"On the day that Gramsy's will was read her attorney handed me a letter. She told me to wait to read it when I was alone. It had directions to get to a private place on this land that only she and your grandfather knew about. She told me that sometimes a couple needs a place just for themselves."

She got out of the cart and took his hand, leading him into the wooded area and after five minutes of walking, they came to a clearing where the sun shone through the trees and a small pond with water so clear a person could see through to the bottom.

Skye started to take her grey tank top off and revealed a white cotton bra and reached for the button on the denim shorts she was wearing, slipping her white tennis shoes off.

"Skye…"

"The last time the Berserker rage took over, you turned to May with the promise of alcohol and meaningless sex. How about trying something different and work it out with someone you love? I can take it."

All Grant could do was watch in awe as she took off the rest of her clothes and got into the pond. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. He was damn lucky she had managed to forgive him because he didn't deserve her.

"Are you going to sit there staring at me or you going to come in here with me?"

Grant quickly pulled off his own shorts and the rest of his clothes before joining her in the lukewarm water and pulled her into his arms, kissing her deeply.

* * *

Steve and Natasha were sparring at the base that had been established after the Avengers encounter with Ultron as Tony Stark stormed into the gym.

"When were the two of you planning on telling everybody but Clint that Phil Coulson was alive?"

"How did you find out?"

"One of my father's cousins died and she left me something in her will. My father gave her something back in the forties to be put up and protected. She was giving it back to me to protect it. Who did I see when I walked into the study of her farmhouse but Phil Coulson? So I call Clint to tell him and help me with telling you when he tells me that you told him two months ago after the two of you were called by my cousin Lily to stop Coulson from forcing a young woman to come back to his Shield base. Then I find out that Fury and Hill, with whom my cousin was not a fan of given the fact she called her Fury's lapdog, knew he was alive."

"I guess Mrs. Ward was pissed over her calling Grant 'Garrett's Lapdog'," Natasha commented, glad that she was not in the room when her friend was told about that.

"I have done some research on my new found family members and it seems that Grant Ward's mother sold him to John Garrett and Hydra for seventy five million dollars. Is that what the mission the two of you had going on before everything went down with Ultron?"

"Yes," Natasha said.

"I get why the Capsicle helped because he is too nice for his own good but why did you help him?"

Steve shot Tony an incredulous look before noticing that Natasha was quickly losing her temper. Before he could stop her, Stark was flipped to the mats they had been sparring on with Natasha holding his arm tight enough to break it if he moved the wrong way.

"I helped Grant Ward because before Clint saved me, I was Grant Ward; a manipulated soldier who was trained to be a killer before I was old enough to know better. I get being pissed at Coulson but why all of the questions about Grant Ward."

"I want to know if it is worth approaching my cousin about investing money into their business ventures and political endeavors."

Natasha dropped Tony's arm and stepped away from him, leaving him to stand up on his own.

"I only have one question: I know about the betrayal and him being Hydra but what in the hell did my cousin do besides that to piss off Coulson?"

"Did you see a pretty brunette sitting with him at the Will reading?" Stark smirked at Steve and Natasha, who had asked the question, the former rolled his eyes before walking over to get a bottle of water for him and Natasha.

"Was Coulson screwing her or something and she left him for Grant?"

"No, Stark. He loves her like a daughter and she was a member of the team that Grant betrayed. She fell in love with him but after the betrayal, she took it badly and hated him for a long time afterwards until circumstances happened that brought her and Grant back together. She left Shield to be with Ward and Coulson wants her back and away from someone he feels will hurt her," Natasha  commented, rolling her eyes.

"So this is Coulson being an overprotective father and the girl being a rebellious teenager by choosing to be with the boy 'Daddy' hates with a passion," Stark commented. "He is fighting a losing battle."

All three of them walked out of the gym, talking about other issues as they left.

* * *

Lily Ward looked ready to slap Jiaying as the two of them and Cal sat down in the study and discussed how they were going to help Skye with her power.

"Your transition process has helped her a great deal, Jiaying but what part of 'Skye isn't going to leave Grant and Kyle' are you not understanding?"

"My daughter belongs with someone like Lincoln, not a human criminal and definitely not raising his child."

The next thing Jiaying knew, she was being pinned to the wall. Lily stood in front of her, her brown eyes burning with barely controlled rage.

"In case you missed it, Lincoln seems to be interested in my niece and hasn't had even one conversation with Skye. In fact, he is bonding more with Kara than Skye," Lily said tightly. "Skye loves Kyle as if she gave birth to him and that boy loves her the same way. They are a family."

"I want my daughter back with our people at Li Shi."

"Your daughter is grown woman that knows her own mind and heart," Lily stated before sympathy filled her eyes. "Shield should have left your child alone and minded their own business so you and Cal could get your daughter back after what Hydra did to you. I understand why you want Skye with you but in the years you were apart, she grew up and found her own way in this world. Besides if you help me, you get to train your granddaughter and the next generation Ward witch. She will be powerful because of both of our gifts. She will be a beacon for peace and put a stop to Hydra once and for all"

All of sudden Lily felt nauseous and like her entire center of gravity was tilted. She barely felt Cal grab her and lay her down on the couch. Images went through her head of sunlight shining through a forest setting, the splashing of water and both her nephew and Skye lying together on the bank of a pond, holding onto each other and naked as the day they were born.

"I really didn't want to see that," she muttered as everything came back to normal before sitting up quickly and realizing what she had just seen. "She will be here next spring, a perfect combination of her parents, bringing people together and healing old wounds of the past."

Jiaying gave Cal a look of confusion and he leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"She can see everything as it happens and visions of the future. She can also sense power in others."

"An Inhuman Witch; none of our elders would have ever predicted this."

Lily's eyes flew to Jiaying and her eyes turned stormy. Her hand gripped the Inhuman's wrist in a tight grip.

"When were you planning on telling me that my late sister-in-law was one of your people that you wouldn't let go through the mist?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lily has just exposed one of Jiaying's secrets and more will be revealed in the next chapter. The two of them are going to be frenemies in a lot of ways and Lily really doesn't trust Jiaying at all. 
> 
> I originally wasn't going to have a romantic moment with Skye and Ward but my muses told me that it was needed. That they needed a moment of peace before everything went crazy.
> 
> A lot of people told me they wanted Stark and the rest of the Avengers to be show up more in the story. As for the confrontation, I figured Natasha would be the type to put Tony on his ass when he confronted her and Steve over knowing that Coulson was alive. Clint already knowing that Coulson is alive is one thing but his reaction won't be pretty.


	27. Truth and Lies

Jiaying was in shock at how quickly Lily figured out her secret and felt the pain in her wrist as the other woman’s grip tightened on it. When she moaned in pain, Lily quickly dropped her wrist.

“I apologize but I can’t stand lies and half-truths,” she quietly stated. “What was all of this ‘human criminal’ bullshit if you knew my nephew might be Inhuman like his mother?”

“Millicent Coleman’s parents brought her to us when she was fifteen years old to see if she was eligible and we found her to be prone to irrational anger and cruelty. She assaulted one of her fellow candidates over nothing. We were afraid of what she would become with all of that anger inside of her.”

“Why was my brother never told about this?”

“Millicent never told us that she had children so we never knew about them until recently. I assume she wasn’t going to let her children go through the mist if she couldn’t. She came across as petty and selfish enough to do that.”

“You got that right,” Lily muttered under breath. “Now how do we test my nieces and nephews to find out if they are eligible? I am assuming that Kyle will have to be tested as well.”

“Yes. We would have to take everybody to Li Shi to be tested if they wanted to be considered.”

“We will call a meeting here in the main house when my housekeeper and her daughter are going shopping.”

The sound of the back door slamming and a loud argument between Elena and Adele made Lily, Cal and Jiaying leave the office. The sight of sweet Elena in her mother’s face made Lily gasp in shock before she realized what had happened.

“Elena Maria, I suggest you stop screaming at your mother and go to your room!”

Elena turned to say something hateful to Lily when she saw the rage burning in the eyes of the woman that had helped raise her. She quickly rushed into her room, slamming the door behind her.

“Adele, what happened?”

Cal walked over to the housekeeper, placing a gentle hand on her arm.

“Elena and Kyle decided to sneak into the training room and have sex. They walked out this morning where Mr. Grant, Skye, Kara and Lincoln saw them. Mr. Grant is dealing with Kyle while Elena is about to be grounded for the rest of the summer.”

Lily walked out the door and saw Lincoln and Kara fixing the fences that Grant was going to be working on and saw the golf cart beside the cabin was gone. She pulled off her fashionable sandals she had been wearing and put on a pair of socks along with her sneakers and walked down the hill to find out from Kara and Lincoln what was going on. She was focused on her task, Jiaying and Cal following her didn’t register in her mind.

“Where are Skye and Grant?”

“She took Grant out of here about ten minutes ago and they got into the golf cart heading somewhere in the lower part of the farm. Kyle said something to set off his Berserker rage,” Kara said as she continued to hammer nails into one of the posts as Lincoln held it steady.

“I think I have an idea where she took him. Did Kyle leave the cabin?”

“No, he is still in there.”

“When Grant and Skye get back, tell them that I need to talk to the both of them. Kara, call Louise and Tommy, tell them that there is going to be a family meeting tomorrow night. I will call Christian and Travis. But first I have a sixteen year old boy to deal with since I am technically his legal guardian,” Lily stated before storming down the hill to the cabin.

“I kind of feel sorry for Kyle, given the mood she is in right now,” Jiaying said before walking back to the cabin she and Lincoln were staying in.

Kara watched her for a few seconds before turning to face Cal, shocked at what she had just figured out.

“You need to tell Skye that her mother is alive because if she or Grant figures it out on their own, all hell is going to break loose,” Kara commented to Cal.

“What if she hates me for lying to her?”

“Cal, I’m pretty sure she will be pissed off especially after you told her that she was dead but she has the right to know the truth,” Kara said gently.

Cal walked away and down the hill towards Fitz’s lab where he had been working with the younger man on a project that they weren’t telling anybody about. He didn’t notice the fields of growing vegetables and other crops planted nearby, he was so wrapped up in what Kara had warned him about. He finally had some sort of relationship with his child and it could all be gone because of a decision not to tell her that her mother was still alive.

* * *

Kyle watched as his Aunt Lily came down the hill toward the cabin and knew that he was in trouble. He had purposely said what he did to piss his father off and instead set off something inside his dad that wouldn’t have pretty if Skye hadn’t of been there.

“You are in so much trouble, Kyle James Ward.”

Kyle slowly turned to face his furious aunt and accept the lecture coming his way.

“I just came from my house where the sweet little girl that I helped Adele raise was screaming at her mother. I get it, Kyle. I was sixteen years old once and wanted nothing more than to do everything my parents and older brother told me not to. Taking cheap shots at your father isn’t the way to do it.”

“Is this because of that staff he touched when he was a Shield agent?”

“Skye or Fitz could tell you more about that than I could but yes. Coulson didn’t do a damn thing to help your father and had no problem using the anger it brought out in him.”

“I hate Shield.”

“I hate them too but that has nothing to do with the fact that you and Elena purposely defied her mother and your dad. You are grounded for the rest of the summer and Elena is leaving with her mom in a week instead of staying the rest of the summer and leaving with me.”

“It’s not fair, Aunt Lily,” Kyle whined as he sat down on the couch.

“Life’s not fair, Kyle,” she retorted, sitting down beside him.

“People come and go from our lives and for now, you and Elena can’t be together. Besides you were leaving to stay with your grandfather in Richmond at the end of the summer so you and Elena wouldn’t have been together anyway.”

“She is the only person that has made my Aunt leaving me with all of you easier.”

Lily put an arm around her nephew’s shoulder, wishing she could help him and wanting to strangle Lisa Decker at the same time.

“Your aunt thought this was what was best for you but the way she did it really sucked. All of us were strangers to you and getting to know your father and his girlfriend all at the same time. I know it isn’t easy.”

“So does that mean I’m not grounded,” Kyle commented with a smirk.

“You aren’t getting out of trouble that easy,” Lily said. “But all of us will make more of an effort to talk to each other before things get out of control again.”

* * *

Grant watched as Skye swam in the pond and smiled at how much fun she was having. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him and was getting him through dealing with a teenage boy that wanted to push every button he had.

“Did you think about the fact that we might need dry clothes or are we going to have to ride back to the cabin without any clothes on?”

She grinned at his question before floating across the surface of the water, her hair trailing in the water behind her.

“There’s a bag in the golf cart that has a change of clothes for the both of us. I planned this out and was waiting for the right time to bring you out here.”

She stood up and walked over to the bank, sitting down on his lap.

“You scared me, Grant. I had to get you away from Kyle and calm you down. Nobody wanted to deal with what the Berserker staff did to you and especially when we ignored what Lorelei did to you. I apologize for my part in that but it is also what is making the final steps into forgiving you difficult. You are so wonderful with Kyle most of the time and the love you have for Louise, Thomas, Lily and even your dad and Christian that makes me love you more. Then something happens to bring that anger out and it scares the hell out of me.”

“It scares me too. I almost hurt my son and if you hadn’t of pulled me out of there, I would have done something to him that I would have regretted.”

She gently kissed him before they stood up and went over to the golf cart. They silently put on their changes of clothes before getting into the golf cart and riding back up the hill towards the cabin.


	28. Confessions

A few hours later, Cal was pacing his bedroom and dreading what he had to do. It was time to tell Skye the truth about her mother even if he lost the fragile peace he had made with her.

He heard the sound of laughter coming from the cabin and walked over to the window to see Skye and Grant getting out of the golf cart that the latter had parked beside the front porch of the cabin. His baby was laughing and smiling at the man with her as they made their way up the steps and into the home they shared.

“Cal, you know that Kara is right. It is time to tell Skye the truth,” Lily gently stated from the doorway. “If she finds out on her own, Skye will be very angry with you.”

“What if I tell her and she gets angry with me anyway. I just got her back into my life and I can’t lose my baby again.”

“She might be angry for awhile but it will be a lot worse if she finds out that Jiaying is her mother and you didn’t tell her.”

Cal didn’t say a word, he just walked past Lily and down to the first floor. He stopped short at the sight of Thomas standing there, anger flaring in his blue eyes.

“Tell her the truth or I will,” he bit out angrily.

“Thomas, stay out of this.”

“Aunt Lily…”

“Give Cal a chance to tell her the truth before we go on the defensive and protect her.”

Cal saw the warning in Lily’s eyes and fought the urge to beat Thomas to a pulp as he walked out of the house, letting the back door slam behind him.

* * *

  
Kara kept a steady pace as she punched the bag hanging in the barn converted into a training room. She needed the mindless exercise to keep from going down the hill and telling Grant what was going on. He would know how to tell Skye what was going on. She didn’t like keeping secrets from him.

During her recovery, Grant had been her link to reality and in a lot of ways kept her from going after Bobbi Morse on her own.

At first, he was pushing her towards his version of closure and had helped her come up with a vicious plan of revenge. That is until he had found out that his Gramsy was dying. At that moment, he had told Kara to bide her time and that they didn’t have to do anything to the woman responsible for what Hydra had done to her. Karma would work it’s magic.

“What did that bag ever do to you,” Mack commented as he walked into the barn.

“I’m picturing the bag as your best friend’s head and imagining taking out what Hydra did to me on it. Got a problem with that,” Kara shot back at him.

“Hunter called and told me what Bobbi had done to you and I can understand why you are pissed off at her. Destroying that bag and messing up your hands isn’t going to solve the problem you have with her.”

“It’s that or doing something drastic that would get me put in jail and Bobbi Morse isn’t worth going to jail over.”

“I’m sure Bobbi had her reasons for doing what she did to you and you have every right to be angry at her.”

Kara delivered a brutal punch to the bag before turning fury filled eyes onto Mack.

“I get that she’s your friend but think about this. If she did that to me for the ‘Greater Good’ when I was supposed to be her friend and fellow agent, what is to stop her from doing to same thing to somebody else? Hell, she could decide to do the same crap to Hunter next time if it meant stopping Hydra.”

Mack didn’t respond but took her words to heart as he started his own workout. Kara walked towards the shower room and left him alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Kyle watched from the couch as his dad sat down in the recliner beside it and turned the TV off.

“It’s time to finish our conversation. Lincoln told me that Lily came to talk to you and I agree with her that you are grounded for the rest of the summer.”

Before Kyle could respond, there was a knock on the door of the cabin. Grant groaned in irritation before getting up from the recliner and answering the door.

“Skye, your dad’s here,” he called out.

The door to their bedroom opened and Skye rushed down the stairs, stopping short at the look of dismay and worry on Cal’s face.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“Daisy, we need to talk,” Cal quietly said.

“Kyle, go to your room,” Grant ordered his son. “We will talk later.”

“Yes sir,” Kyle muttered under his breath before storming up the stairs and into his room, slamming the door behind him.

Skye gently took Grant’s hand to keep him from following Kyle up the stairs and led him over to the couch. Cal followed them and sat down in the recliner.

“I didn’t tell you everything about your mother when we were in Puerto Rico,” Cal said, voice trembling. “It’s true that Daniel Whitehall butchered her and stole her organs. What I didn’t tell you was that I put her back together and her own powers helped her come back to life. Your mother is still alive, Daisy.”

A few tense moments passed where Skye didn’t say a word and Grant held her hand before she finally found the ability to respond.

“Jiaying’s my mother, isn’t she?” “Yes.”

“Please leave,” Skye stated quietly.

“Daisy…” “My name is Skye and I want you to leave. Get out!”

She burst into tears and allowed Grant to hold her, who was glaring at Cal as the other man got up and left the cabin. He stopped short at the sight of Jiaying getting ready to walk up the porch steps.

“Go back to your cabin, Jiaying. She will not want to see you.”

“You told her the truth?”

“Yes I did. I was hoping that I wouldn’t lose her again and that is exactly what happened. Go back to Afterlife, nobody wants you here.”

Cal walked up towards the main house, ignoring the tears in her eyes, his own devastation more important to him. He didn’t say a word to Lily and Thomas as they sat in the living before going up the stairs to his room and closing himself away from the rest of the room to wallow in his own misery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had written this chapter out a few months ago but didn't post it, only for my computer to crash and lose it. I finally was inspired to write a new chapter tonight and it went in a different direction than my orginal chapter. I really like this one although it came out more angsty than I had originally planned. It is all leading into the final chapters of this story and a sequel.


	29. A Change Is Coming

A month and a half had passed since Skye had found out from Cal that her mother was not only alive but that Jiaying was her mother. It had been tense between father and daughter for the past six weeks and Jiaying had left to go back to Afterlife.

Lincoln had stayed behind to help make sure that everything was okay with Skye and her transition. He was also helping out around the farm and try to be useful while also assisting Tommy with any medical needs that any of the people living there needed.

Elena had left with her mother and Kyle had become even more sullen and withdrawn than before. Grant and Skye were both about ready to scream in frustration that is until Fitz stepped in and gave him a job helping sweep floors at his lab.

Kara had become the housekeeper up at the main house and had moved into Adele's old room, with Cal moving into Elena's room so Tommy could stay in his once more. He needed to be in there to pack his things and move them down to the cabin.

He would be sharing it with Lincoln, Mack and Fitz so the latter two would be in a warmer home with colder weather coming to the Southeast.

As it was, the humidity that area of the country was famous for was very high on Labor Day and Grant had to move his daily workout to the lower pasture. Especially when he did his hand standing pushups wearing only a pair of shorts. It seems the maids in the main house lost their damn minds everytime he tried working out anywhere close to where they were working.

The sight that greeted Lincoln as he walked towards the pasture was one that made him reconsider his sexuality for a second despite never being attracted to another male.

"Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to tell me what you want," Ward snarkily commented as he placed his feet back on the ground.

"I have a feeling you are used to people staring at you, Grant," the young Inhuman smirked as he said this. "I don't blame you for doing that where the maids can't see you. From what Kara told me, Skye is about to punch one of them in the face if she keeps hitting on you."

"Skye is the only woman I have ever really loved so other people can stare at me all they want, nobody else has a chance with me," Grant stated firmly. "Now, are you finally going to tell me what you want?"

"I want you to train me the same way you are doing with Kyle, Tommy and Fitz and the same way you have with Skye. I can't depend on just my powers while I am away from Afterlife."

"Agreed. Be prepared to wake up this early every morning to meet me in the training room. In fact, you can come and watch while I start Kyle on his workout this morning."

"Okay."

Grant walked over to where he had parked his golf cart and waited for Lincoln to join him.

* * *

Lily stared at all of the boxes lying on the floor of her office and dreaded having to go through them once they were shipped to her home in the Hamptons.

The sight of Skye walking out of the kitchen with one of Kara's homemade oatmeal cookies in her hand and a long black limo coming up the driveway filled her with a sense of relief.

"He's here, Skye."

"Are you sure you are ready to give Tony Stark a tour of the farm today?"

"Whatever it was that my mother gave him has made him determined to get to know this side of his family. Besides that is one more person that can help us when Hydra decides to make their move."

Skye felt a wave of nausea pass over her and had to set the cookie down on the desk. She had to throw a napkin over it and get it out of her sight to stop the urge she had to vomit.

Lily smiled because she knew what was wrong but was waiting on Skye to figure it out for herself.

Before anything else is said, Lily walked over to the front door and out onto the porch, wincing at the heat and breathtaking humidity. She silently cast a cooling spell that made things easier for her and Skye to tolerate in regards to the weather and waited for the limo to park in front of the house.

Excitement filled Skye at the sight of Tony Stark getting out of the limo as Lily grinned at the younger girl. It only got crazier as Natasha, Steve and Clint Barton all stepped out behind him.

Now Lily was worried as to why four of the six Avengers were at her home.

"Are you just going to stand there or can we get this over with?"

Lily glared at Tony and marched down the steps toward her newfound cousin.

"I get that you are used to calling the shots and showing everybody how much smarter than them you are but that's not happening here," Lily bit out.

"It's nice to see you again, Lily," Steve quickly in an effort to avoid Tony being hexed by Lily. Although if Tony kept it up with the attitude that had grown worse after finding out Coulson was alive and more of his father's secrets, it would happen anyway.

Lily grinned at Steve as she walked over to him, shaking his hand before doing the same thing with Natasha and Clint. She glanced up to see Skye still standing on the porch staring at their guests in awe despite having met Steve and Natasha while she was in the hospital.

"Skye, come down here and meet our guests."

Before she could take that first step, the nausea she had been feeling earlier quickly returned and her head started to spin. It was only Steve Rogers quickly moving up the stairs to catch her as she fell that kept Skye from falling head first down the porch steps.

Lily pulled her cellphone out to call Tommy while she and Kara, who had seen Skye almost faint from inside the house and had rushed outside, led Steve, who was carrying an unconscious Skye in his arms, into the house.

"Daisy!"

"Cal, go get Grant and Tommy from the training barn," Lily said as she put her cellphone up. "Kara, call Phil Coulson and tell him the Avengers are here. I'm pretty sure they want to see him."

Lily went up the stairs with Steve right behind her so they could get Skye comfortable in the third floor master suite.

In her wake, a stunned Tony Stark watched his new cousin before turning to a smirking Natasha and Clint.

"Is there something about her that I don't know about?"

The archer and the spy both laughed at his question before Kara showed them to the living room so they could wait for Lily and Steve to come back downstairs.

"I don't give a fuck if Coulson told you not to accept any calls from the Ward family, tell him that it's about Skye and that Lily thinks he needs to be here," Kara argued with the person she was talking to before she hung up her phone. "That ought to light a fire under him and the rest of the self-righteous brigade and make them show up."

"I noticed that you didn't tell him that we were here,"Natasha smirked at the other woman.

"Nope. Not inclined to be very nice to them at the moment."

"You don't mind telling us why," Tony said, curious as to what Phil and his team had done to piss Kara off.

The mask that Kara wore to cover the remaining scars on her face dropped exposing the burns on her face as she told the story of being taken from her safe house, tortured and brainwashed by Hydra.

Clint cringed as she mentioned Bobbi's part in what had happened to her and how their fellow Shield agent and the agency they were apart of hadn't done a thing to help. That someone who had betrayed Shield had been the only one who had showed her any compassion. At least until he had introduced Kara to his family, who had taken her in as one of their own.

"I came close to getting revenge on Bobbi, luckily someone helped me see that it wasn't worth it. She isn't worth another minute of my time," Kara firmly stated before she walked into the kitchen.

"Why do I feel like we have entered some kind of soap opera where some crazy shit is always about to happen?"

Clint and Natasha both laughed at Tony's words as the back door of the house flew open. Grant rushed up the stairs, not even glancing into the living room as Tommy and Lincoln followed him.

Kyle walked into the living room, worry in the young boy's eyes as he walked over to the piano that Lily had bought and placed in the room for him.

Natasha noticed the fear in the teenager's eyes and walked over to the piano, hoping she could help him in some way. She had noticed his affection for Skye on her last visit.

"Kyle, why don't you play something that you know Skye would like?"

His fingers started to move across the keys and Music Box Dancer started to fill the room and rest of the house as Steve Rogers walked back into the room.

"Keep playing, son. She is awake and Tommy is going to take some blood and run some tests but I suspect he and Lily already know what is wrong," Steve stated as Kyle continued to play the piano.

Clint sat there with a smirk because he knew what was wrong with Skye too. He was eagerly waiting for Coulson to get there for many reasons, the older man finding out what was wrong with Skye was one of them.

* * *

Grant was sitting beside Skye on Lily's bed, holding her hand as Thomas took a blood sample from her arm. He watched as his brother hand each vial of blood to Lincoln, who prepared them to be taken to Fitz's lab.

“All done,” Tommy said, pulling the needle out of her arm and placing a band aid on the injection site to stop the bleeding. “Lincoln, take those down to the lab and run them, call me on my cell with the results as soon as they are ready.”

“Of course.”

Lincoln left the room as Tommy sat down beside his aunt on the window seat because her bed was all that remained of her furniture. Everything else had been taken out that weekend and placed in storage and placed in one of the bedrooms in the cabin.

Kyle would be taking Tommy's old room for when he was home from school while the other three bedrooms on the second floor was being used as guest rooms.

“Skye, do you want somebody to go and get Cal?”

“No. I don't want him here.”

Lily didn't say another word, hearing how angry Skye still was at Cal. She wouldn't be forgiving him any time soon.

The memory of Skye's confrontation with Jiaying the day after Cal had told her the truth wasn't something that Lily would forget anytime soon.

**Six Weeks Earlier**

_**Lily had been walking down the hill towards Fitz's lab when the voice of a very angry Skye drew her attention to the back porch of the cabin.** _

“ _ **Dad shouldn't have been the one to tell me who you really were. You should have told me the truth!”**_

_**She saw the mix of hurt and anger in Skye's dark brown eyes and had to keep herself from rushing over there to help because this wasn't her battle to fight.** _

“ _ **Daisy...”**_

“ _ **My name is Skye!”**_

“ _ **Skye, Cal thought that we would tell you when you were ready. It was only after other people started to figure it out that he decided to tell you that I was alive.”**_

“ _ **I already talked to Kara about her suspicions of who you really where when she came over and talked to me this morning. None of this is her fault. I had the right to know that my mother wasn't dead! Go back to Afterlife, Jiaying. I'm pretty sure Cal doesn't want you here anymore and I sure as hell don't want you here.”**_

_**Lily could feel the ground shake around her and hoped that Skye would remember what she had taught her about controlling her powers. She had sighed in relief at the sight of Grant stepping out of the house and over to where Skye was standing, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.** _

“ _ **Jiaying, you need to leave. All you are doing is upsetting Skye and I am sure that is the last thing any of us want right now.”**_

_**He had held Skye in his arms as they both watched Jiaying leave the porch and over to the other cabin across the pond from theirs. It was only when she had gone inside that they both relaxed and held each other.** _

_**Lily had felt like she was intruding on a private moment so she had went down the hill to talk to Fitz and Mack about extra security measures for the farm.** _

It was only the sound of AC/DC's 'Back In Black' playing throughout the room that had brought Lily's focus back to the present and how much time had passed while her mind had remembered Skye and Jiaying's confrontation.

“Hello,” Tommy answered his phone quickly, glaring at his smirking older brother because of his ringtone. “Are you sure, Lincoln? Okay, I'll tell them.”

He hung up his phone and put it back into his pants pocket before turning to face his anxious brother and his girlfriend.

“There is nothing wrong with you, Skye except you are pregnant. We would need to do an ultrasound to tell you how far along you are,” he said, enjoying the fact that the smirk had fallen off of Grant's face and his brother was now as shocked and surprised as Skye seemed to be in that moment.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” he gently answered Skye's question.

“How is that possible?”

“Well when two people love each other and decide to express that love...”

“Thomas Jacob, I know how babies are made,” Grant snapped at his younger brother.

“Tommy, go find something to do and stop being a little shit,” Lily ordered with a smile. “I think your brother and Skye might want to talk about this in private.”

Lily motioned her youngest nephew out of the room and hugged both Skye and Grant before following them.

“Congratulations,” she gently smiled at both of them before closing the door behind her.

“What are you thinking,” she asked Grant, her head on his chest.

“I am scared as hell that I am going to be a horrible father to this baby,” he gently said, kissing the top of her head.

“Grant, you are a wonderful father to Kyle. You can do this.”

“That's another thing, how's Kyle going to respond to having a baby brother or sister?”

“Grant, I think we both know that this baby will be a girl.”

Grant groaned in irritation at his aunt's claims of him being the father of the next generation witch in his family.

“I wish there was a way to end that curse. It has caused both Lily and Lou more pain than anything else. Lou, Lily, Great Aunt Abby or any of the other witches since the damn thing started has not had a child of their own when that was all Lou talked about when she was a little girl. I don't want that for our daughter.”

“That right there is proof that you will be a wonderful father. Besides I can see you and Kyle with a little girl. She would have the both of you wrapped around her little finger,” Skye said with a smile.

She leaned up to kiss him gently and it quickly turned passionate until a knock on the door brought them back to where they were.

“May I come in,” Kyle's voice drifted through the doorway.

“Come on in son,” Grant called out, nervous about how his son would react to their news.

“Aunt Lily told me that I could come up and make sure Skye was okay,” Kyle said as he stepped into the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

“Kyle, come sit with me and your dad.”

Kyle sat down on the edge of Lily's bed and watched as his dad and Skye sat up and leaned back on the antique wooden headboard. He waited for them to speak, suspecting what they would say.

“Kyle, in about seven months you are going to be an older brother.”

Grant and Skye waited anxiously for his response to their news and felt relief as a huge smile came over the teenagers face.

“Congratulations!”

He leaned over to hug Skye and then his father before sitting back down.

“I have a suggestion for her name.”

“We don't know for sure if this baby will be a girl,” Grant said.

Both Kyle and Skye rolled their eyes at him before the former started to speak again.

“I think we should name her after Gramsy.”

“Francesca Grace Ward. I like it,” Skye smiled gently at Kyle and waited for Grant's response to the name that had been picked out.

“I like it,” the former specialist commented with a gentle smile.

Lily watched from outside the doorway as the tiny family inside the room continued to talk about the baby and was grateful for the rare moment of happiness they were able to enjoy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think with the way I ended this chapter, that the next one will be the last one before I start on the sequel and there will be a major time jump to move the timeline up to this year instead of the summer of 2015.
> 
> I also feel like a new story will get my creative muses going again. I hope everybody enjoys this chapter. I am hoping to have the final chapter written soon because I have time off of work this week to hopefully be able concentrate on finishing this story.


	30. Francesca Grace

**_February 14th, 2016- Six and a half months later_ **   
  
Fitz was standing in his office, having a loud argument with Jemma on speaker, ignoring the fact that Lincoln, Cal and Thomas could hear every word they were saying.  
  
“Fitz, you have made your point. Come back to Shield and bring Skye back with you, the both of you need your family with you, not them.”  
  
The last word was dripping with disdain and if she had been there personally instead of over the phone, she would have regretted her words.  
  
The sound of a glass crashing against the wall stopped whatever she was about to say next.  
  
“Jemma, Skye told you that they are her family when you were here the day after Labor Day. I am not coming back to Shield and I refuse to argue about this anymore. Don't call Skye again, she will not answer you because she doesn't need the stress right now and I don't think she is ready to forgive you for what happened,” Fitz warned her harshly.  
  
“Fitz...”  
  
“I'm hanging up Jemma.”  
  
Her protests were the last thing he heard as he hung up his phone.  
  
“Okay, she needs an attitude adjustment,” Tommy said walking into the room. “She is also very lucky that Grant didn't file charges against her.”  
  
“I get why she is still angry at your brother, there is a part of me that is still pissed off at him.  I have just chosen to forgive Ward instead of letting Coulson and May influence me and keep that anger festering. Besides we wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Coulson.  Neither Jemma and I had enough experience to be working undercover like that.”  
  
“Sounds like it was a disaster waiting to happen no matter what.”  
  
“It was.”  
  
“It didn't help that I was a damn idiot by dropping that pod instead of turning on that son of a bitch and putting a bullet in his head,” Grant commented harshly, standing in the doorway with the brown leather jacket he had been wearing all winter zipped completely up to protect him from the freezing weather outside.  
  
“Grant...”  
  
“I finally figured that out after months of seeing Dr. Travis and I still feel guilty for my part in what happened to the both of you.”  
  
“Ward, you apologized to me for what happened besides you were sold to Hydra and brainwashed from the time you were fifteen years old. While in some ways the things you did was a choice, it was one made after years of negative influences.”  
  
Ward smiled sadly at his friend before sitting down on the leather chair in front of Fitz's desk.  
  
“What happened to you and Jemma when I dropped that pod is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life. I'm just very lucky you chose to forgive me when you would have been well within your rights not to.”  
  
“Jemma has the right to be angry with you, Grant,” Tommy gently said, sitting in the chair beside his brother's. “Trying to kill you for petty revenge is something else entirely.  It makes her no better than anybody else and sitting on her moral high horse after what she did only makes her look like a hypocrite.”  
  
When Shield had arrived on the farm and had found out that Skye was pregnant, the responses from her former team hadn't been pretty. In fact, it was downright disastrous and it had driven an even deeper wedge between Skye and Shield, especially with her and Jemma. Her need for revenge had almost led to Kyle dying when he got caught in the middle of Jemma trying to kill Grant.  
  
**_The day after the events of the previous chapter_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_Grant was in the barn used for training, going over paperwork for the farm, the one place on the property where he could get some peace and quiet._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_He was so focused on the order form for feed for the horses that for once he didn't hear the door to the barn open until it was almost too late._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Dad!”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_Grant quickly stood up from the chair he was sitting in and turned around to see his son fighting with a struggling Jemma Simmons. In her hands was a round disk that looked familiar but he couldn't figure out what it was until it went flying into the air and detonated._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_The fight stopped when Kyle watched as the device disintegrated in front of them and he turned to face an unrepentant Jemma._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“I don't ever want to hear you call my father a murderer again, you self-righteous bitch. Do you even give a fuck that you almost killed me?”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“That wasn't meant for you!”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“No, you meant it for my father! Did you think of how Skye would feel about what you just tried to do to him, the father of her baby?”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Her baby would be better off with anybody but him as it's father!”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“That isn't your choice to make, Jemma!”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_Ward watched as Skye stormed into the barn, her fist flying to punch her now former friend in the face._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Does Fitz know you stole that from him? You have five minutes to leave, Jemma or I will let Lily and Lou know about your attempt to murder Grant. Coulson and May won't be able to save you.”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Skye, come with me and have your baby at the base. It's your home.”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_'No, this is my home. Leave! Now!”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_Jemma rushed out of the barn as Skye quickly went over to Grant and Kyle, hugging them both._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“What the hell were you thinking, Kyle? If you had touched that thing, it would have tore your body apart.”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“What?”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“That was a splinter bomb. It would have literally tore you apart and it would have been a very painful way to die, son,” Grant explained._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“That was meant for you, Dad,” Kyle's voice shook as he took in that he could have witnessed his father die a slow and painful death._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_The door to the barn flew open and Lou ran inside, anger burning in her brown eyes._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Jemma is being sent back to their base for what she tried to do to you. What happened?”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_As Skye explained what she had walked in on and Grant told his oldest sibling about the splinter bomb and how Kyle had saved his life by risking his own, Lou was in tears._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Don't you ever do anything like that again!”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_She hugged her nephew tightly, making sure he was still there._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Aunt Lily will flip her shit once she hears exactly what happened.”_ **  


* * *

Skye felt a swift kick to her belly as she sat in the living room of the main house, caressing her pregnant belly as she remembered the day Jemma had tried to murder Grant and Kyle.  
  
“It's okay baby girl, Mommy's okay.”  
  
Her belly rippled as Kara stepped into the room, holding a tray with a bowl of soup and a sandwich.  
  
“Here's your tomato soup and grilled cheese, Skye. I see Frankie is working on her gymnastics routine.”  
  
“Yeah, right on my bladder. Can you sit the tray on the coffee table while I go to the bathroom?”  
  
“Sure. Let me know if you need anything.”  
  
“I will.”  
  
Skye walked towards the downstairs bathroom and closed the door behind her while Lou stepped in the front door, pulling off her black cashmere coat and hanging it in the closet.  
  
“Where's Grant at, Kara?”  
  
“He's down in the lab talking to Fitz but he should be back in a few minutes”  
  
Before Lou could reply, a loud shriek came from the bathroom that gave both women goosebumps before they went to the bathroom to check on Skye.  
  
“Kara call Tommy and tell him that Skye is in labor,” Lou said, calmly before opening the door to the bathroom. “Tell him to call Forsyth Medical Center and have them send a medivac up here to transport her to the hospital.”  
  
Skye's maternity jeans were soaked and a puddle of fluid was at her feet. She was in the middle of a contraction, her face contorted in pain and her dark eyes filled with fear. The contraction stopped about fifteen seconds later and that was the moment panic set in.  
  
“I'm not due for another six weeks. It's too early!”  
  
“Skye, the baby will be okay, try and stay calm.”  
  
Lou kept her voice calm as she glanced down at her watch to keep track of how far apart the contractions were and didn't show her own anxiety so Skye would stay calm.  
  
“Was that your first contraction?”  
  
“Yes.”  

“Okay, let's see if we can get you into some dry clothes while we wait for the chopper to arrive.”

Lou winced as Skye gasped in pain as another contraction went through her, not liking how close together they were. Tommy could very well be delivering their niece here instead of assisting at the hospital.  
  
Although Tommy having to deliver Francesca is nothing compared to Phil Coulson's reaction when he found out that Skye was pregnant.  
  
**_Right After Simmons tried to Murder Ward_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_Lou could sense the glee Lily was feeling as they both watched Clint Barton rip Phil Coulson a new ass._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_The sound of the back door slamming and Jemma Simmons running into the house, tears in her eyes ended the tirade being thrown at Coulson. She rushed over to May and whispered harshly in her ear._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Kyle stopped me before I could do what he deserves.”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_Lou glanced over at her aunt and winced at the anger that flashed into her Aunt's brown eyes. She didn't have Lily's ability to see everything happening around her and didn't want it._ ** ****__  
  


**_“Coulson, get that self-righteous little bitch out of my house before I have her arrested! If I find out that you or anybody else at Shield helped her plan the attempt on my nephew's life, I will make every last one of you regret it,” Lily sharply stated. “Lou, go to the training barn and check on Grant, Kyle and Skye.”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“Lily, what happened?”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_“That little bitch decided it was the right time to get her revenge on Grant instead of going to Fitz's lab like she said she was.”_ ** ****__  
****__  
**_To keep herself from kicking Jemma's ass, Lou ran out the back door and over to the barn, flinging the door open. She ignored the sound of it hitting the wall._ ** ****__  
****__  
**_The sight of her brother holding Skye and his son in his arms sent chills down her spine. It only got worse at the sight of what remained of the splinter bomb lying on the ground._ **  
  
The sound of a gut wrenching scream pulled Lou back to reality and where her focus needed to be at that moment. Besides the coming birth of her niece was a better memory than what Jemma Simmons had tried to do to her brother.  
  
“Call your father, Lou so he and Kyle can be here,” Skye gasped out as the contraction finished.  
  
“Skye!”  
  
Lou watched as Grant rushed into the room with Thomas right behind him and the two of them took her up to the master bedroom. Kara was getting the supplies Tommy would need to deliver Francesca.  
  
Lou pulled out her cellphone and started making all of the phone calls to everybody who would want to be there for the baby's birth. This was a joyous occasion for their entire family.

* * *

A few hours later, the medivac landed on the landing pad near the farmhouse.  It had been delayed by traffic accidents in Winston Salem as cold air from Canada and moisture coming up from the Gulf Of Mexico had caused a snowstorm in the Southeastern US.  

Winston Salem and Cana had already gotten ten inches with six more predicted before the next morning.

The paramedics walked into the master bedroom of the farmhouse to find Tommy handing Skye a pink wrapped bundle while Grant sat at her side, holding her hand and staring adoringly at the two more important women in his life.

“Dad?”

Grant turned to the open bedroom doorway to see Kyle standing there, uncertain of what he should say or do.

“Son, there is someone here that wants to meet her big brother,” Grant said gently to his teenage son.

Kyle came into the room with Louise, Christian, Anna, Travis and Lily followed him, all of them taking in the baby in Skye’s arms.

“Everybody this is Francesca Grace Ward.”

Lily smiled tearfully as she watched the rest of her family take turns holding and admiring their newest member.

She looked over to the doorway and saw Cal standing there, longingly staring at his daughter and granddaughter.

“Dad, come and meet your granddaughter,” Skye said gently.  “Now I understand how you felt when I disappeared and why you did what you did.  There is no greater love than the love you have for your child.”

Cal burst into tears as Francesca was placed in his arms by Louise and while he could see her father’s features in her tiny face, his Daisy was there as well.

“Now comes the hard part, keeping her safe from everybody who will want her and the power she will be capable of,” Lily stated firmly as she caressed her niece’s forehead and leaned down to kiss it gently.  “All petty bullshit stops here and now.  Keeping Francesca safe is more important than anything else.”

Grant sat down beside Skye, holding her hand and leaning over to kiss her gently.  She reached up and ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck before pulling away from him and laying her head on his shoulder.

She stared down at the gold band around his left ring finger and the matching band and antique engagement ring on hers.

“I am so glad we had a small wedding right after I found out I was pregnant instead of waiting until after I gave birth to Frankie.”

The grin on Skye’s face was so infectious that Grant smiled deeply at her before responding to her comment.

“Me too.”

Skye let the Paramedics get her ready to go to the hospital and waited for Cal to hand Francesca to her.

“Cherish her always, my Daisy,” Cal said before stepping back and watching as the gurney holding his daughter and granddaughter was wheeled out of the bedroom.

* * *

_ **** _ _ **** _ **The same time that Skye and Francesca are being taken to the hospital**

At the Playground, Coulson gritted his teeth in anger as he hung up the phone.  He turned to face Melinda May, Bobbi, Hunter, and Jemma, all of them waiting for him to speak.

“Hydra raided the home of Lily Ward and murdered her housekeeper and her daughter.  The time for petty bullshit is over and we have to work with The Wards to stop them or the next time it will be someone we love that loses their lives to them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter of this story after two years since I started it. There will be a time jump for the sequel. The final part of this chapter will set up the battle between Hydra and the Ward family as well as Shield.


End file.
